Amnesia
by mesa-boogie
Summary: Loki is drug back to Asgard five years after having his last child Erik against the All-Father's rule, for punishment...along the way in the bifrost...something happened and when Loki arrived in Asgard...he had no memories of his former life on Midgard. How will Loki get his memories back? (part 11 of 'MoL' series)


Chains. Metal. Clamped around his neck, bit against his skin like some rabid beast. Cuffs, synched tight around his wrists, attached to his ankles, confined by a length of chain in between. Punishment, as he was led down the stone steps and into Asgard's finest establishment, the prison vault. That was where he was going. Why?

The guards continued to push a metal rod against his back, urging him onward before stopping in front of what would be his living quarters. The shackles were removed, the chains and the cuff around his neck before he was pushed into his cell. The quantum shields quickly followed up after, bright as the high day sun, he dared not touch, for he knew what would happen. He would burn and blister, with his fine porcelain skin. This was his cage.

He looked around his new living quarters now, with furniture already having been brought in for him. A bed finely made, the shelves of the book cases filled with books for him to read (some of his favorites) and a table set for tea time with refreshments and crumpets. Was this really punishment? Was this really a prison? Or more like a mortal child's play time.

Loki turned his jade green gaze to the other cells side by side with his and across the way, holding war criminals and fugitives that mean to harm Asgard, inside and out from the structures. What is he doing here with the lot of them? He did not understand what his punishment was that landed him here. He does not remember. Just that a black bag was pulled from his head, his hands clasped hard behind his back till his shoulders ached, gagged, blinded momentally by the light of Asgard. He does not remember where he was or what he was doing before he ended up here.

"Loki, son..."

He heard her voice and turned completely around to face the cell shielding as she stood just on the other side, elegantly dressed in the finest blue fabrics woven in Asgard. Her long strawberry golden hair pinned up, yet also cascading back behind her.

"Mother," he merely whispered her name and he took a few steps closer, shuffling in his old leather boots, his trench coat swaying slowly side to side with each shift.

"Loki...it didn't have to be this way...you...didn't have to...end up here..."

"And what was it that I did that landed me here in the first place? What act did I do that was so horrible that I would end up in the prison cells of Asgard?" he asked on an acid hissed breath. "I do not believe I deserve this. Not from you, not from anyone," he made an arching motion with his right arm before he turned his back on her and strode over to an empty chair that was brought into his prison cell. "Leave me be, mother."

She was pained, as she held up her right hand momentarily, before she lowered it and turned to leave the prison. Leaving him with all the other crude creatures, locked away to be easily forgotten. A forgotten relic. A reminder that he is not like the rest of them, but instead has ties by birth to their enemies, the frost giants of Jotunheim. Never allowed to seize throne of Asgard for his own.

Loki lowered himself down into the chair that was stationed beside the table with the tea set up. He reached out with his long fingers and gracefully broke the crumpets into pieces before bringing them to his mouth to eat delicately. He didn't really need this for substance, but only ate to give the illusion to the others around him, that he isn't too different.

How did he end up here? He does remember traveling through the bifrost to Asgard. But where from? Which of the other realms was he in, in which he was hunted down and returned to Asgard? Loki's head throbbed with pain the harder he tried to think what happened to him.

He pushed his chair back and stepped away from the table as he turned for the bed to lay down on his back, slowly he closed his tired eyes. Sleep washed over him quickly and he was tugged back into the darkness that is his life.

Loki was awoken from his slumber to the sound of the vault doors opening on squeaking hinges as the bottom of the heavy door dragged across the stone floor. He sat up and rubbed at his sore eyes as he turned and peered around in hopes of seeing who it is. He slipped his legs over the edge of the bed and to the floor before he pushed himself up and over to shield bars.

"Thor," he whispered his brothers name, the red cape unmistakable. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" he grinned momentarily before it dropped away. Standing at Thor's side, gripping that red cape in her hand, is a mere child. The way she looks at him, eyes wide, she is scared to be in his presence. "Thor!" Loki hissed a venomous threat, eyes narrowed on his step brother. "How could you bring a mere child with you to a place like this? To the cells. A mortal child and..." he paused mid sentence with his mouth open as he studied the girl and she slipped back behind Thor. Her eyes were mismatched, her hair raven black, her stance that of a scared rabbit, but there was magik in her. She was not all mortal.

"Brother, Loki," Thor spoke as he approached the cell, reaching for the controls, he lowered the shields in trust that Loki would not do anything rash. He then took a few of the steps up into the cell, the girl following, but always stood behind Thor, gripping his cape tightly. "How...what happened to you...how could you forget of your own daughter?"

"Daughter?" Loki gasped and then laughed, a deep laugh from inside his soul. "I only have but only one daughter, Thor. A monster. Hela is not here, as she has her own realm to rule," he grinned, beaming his sharp teeth, eyes narrowed as he leaned forward, hands at his thin hips. "Daughter, really. I would never bed a Midgardian whore. You think so low of me Thor!"

"No, not a Midgardian whore. You are her mother."

Loki froze now, still as a statue as he continued to study the little girl of possible ten years old, as she stepped out from behind Thor. She wore a green cape drawn over her shoulders that cascaded to the floor, hiding most of her body from his sight. The broach that held the cape together against her chest bore a symbol that stoked some familiarity deep inside him. There was something familiar of that black V of the round golden broach.

"What is your name, girl?" he asked, green eyes narrowed in curiosity.

"My name is Loona Julia Barton," she spoke with most perfect speech as she approached him as if cornering a creature to capture, slow at first, gaining its trust.

"Loona," he spoke her name aloud and liked how it rolled off his tongue. She stood in front of him now, head tilted back to look up and meet his gaze. Her mismatched eyes held more than her youth, they showed him that she was filled with wise wisdom.

"Father..."

"No," he hissed quickly now and took a step back as he looked pasted her and glared at Thor. "Take this child out of my sight...before I do something you will regret..."

"Brother," Thor frowned, hurt, but he approached and rested his large hands to the girl's shoulders, leading her back down the steps and away from Loki. "I do not know what has happened to you, Loki, but I will get you to remember. Remember your family."

"I have no family. I only need myself, Thor," he growled lowly and turned his back on the two of them. Not looking until he heard them leave and the vault door shut, the locks engaged.

The following days had been filled with the regular routine. Loki spent his time reading through and through the books that were shelved in his cell. At certain times throughout the day, a guard would come in and deliver meals to every cell and there was loud protesting and cursing in unfamiliar tongues. Loki would watch quizzically as the other prisoners shuffled about in their cells and called the guards such nasty names, and yet the Asgardian guards seemed unfazed by the words.

As the guard approached his cell, Loki sat up and swung his legs over the side of his bed and walked over to his cage door.

"I wish to have council with Lady Frigga. If you would be kind enough to fetch her. Tell her I wish to speak with her," he announced and the guard froze and then lifted his gaze to Loki's. He nodded his head, spoke no words in return, and left the vault. In time, she appeared, two guards followed behind her as she stood in from of Loki's cell. The shields were then lowered.

"Loki, son," she spoke softly to him and with a smile on her naturally rosy lips. He just nodded his head curtly and took a step back as she took the few stair steps into his cell. "You wished to speak with me...what is it that you want, my son? Name it and I will see to it that you have it."

"To hold a meeting with Thor and that child in the green cloak," he spoke. Ever since Thor had brought her down to see him, he can not get the small child off of his mind. He thought of her day and night for the past two days, and tried hard about remembering her, but nothing ever came to him.

"Ah, with your dau...Loona," she smiled as she caught herself and Loki narrowed his gaze at her. "In a matter of speaking, they are still here on Asgard. Thor is up in the throne room."

"I wish to go there, mother," Loki held out his hand and she gently took it in her own.

"Of course, my son. I would not keep you from your brother. But first, we need to get you cleaned up and presentable. Your time down here in the dungeon has not done your hair any good." She spoke softly and led him, with the guards, out of the prison and back up to his old bedchambers. He was allowed inside, whereupon he was able to collect some of his old clothes, wash up and Frigga helped him as she brushed back his raven black hair, making him more presentable.

Loki felt confidence in his walk, free of shackles and chains as he made his way into the throne room. He pushed open the large heavy golden doors and the sight before him froze him in his tracks. The young girl, still with the green cloak clasped around her shoulders, sat on Odin's empty throne, which was way too big for her. She was laughing as she mocked Odin's manner of ruling and Thor laughed also as he stood before the throne, arms crossed over his chest, back to Loki. The two seemed much a like and Loki tried thinking that maybe Thor wasn't wrong, and the girl was actually his child.

"Come, niece," Thor called to her and she slipped off the throne, jumping down the steps towards him. She caught sight of Loki out of the corner of her eyes and in the moment of forgetfulness, she tripped on the edges of her cloak and tumbled down the rest of the steps. "Loona!" Thor called as he rushed to her to check she had not broken anything. He helped her to sit back up and rubbed her head with a frown on his face.

Loki took this time and approached them; he kept his eyes on the girl, who had tears prickling her eyes and a blush across her cheeks as she looked up at him. He froze, but then knelt down beside her. "Did you hurt anything, little one?" he asked calmly. "I can heal it for you."

"LOKI," Thor turned his head and stared at his brother.

"Oh hush up, Thor, I'm not going to do anything horrible to her," he grumbled, but reached out a hand to her skinned knee, healing it up in the matter of seconds. "I came...I requested from mother...to come hold council with her."

"Me?" the girl asked as she rubbed the tears from her eyes.

"Yes, you, little one. If there is anyone that could help me to remember...it would be you...as it seems I was told I have a deep connection with you already." He sighed as he lifted his hands up to the sides of her head, resting his fingers against her temples. "Look at me, little one, I want you to just relax. Relax, as I am to enter your mind," he whispered as he shut his eyes and leaned his head forward till their foreheads pressed together. He felt her whole body relax and there was a flood of memories, almost an overwhelming rush and he pulled back quickly. It would take years to process those memories.

"Did you see anything?" she stared up at him quizzically and a bit hurt at his expression of surprise. "Hopefully you saw all of us." She smiled at him and he shook his head, not understanding her.

"Brother," Thor spoke now and he rested a large hand against Loki's back. "Maybe it would be better if you returned to Midgard with me. Maybe then, you will be able to remember it all."

"I shall allow you to take him with you, Thor," Frigga spoke softly, as she approached her sons and granddaughter, hands clasped in front of her. "Loki's sentencing will be suspended and I shall speak to your father about it."

"Thank you, mother," Thor stood up now, took his mother's hand and pulled her towards him as he kissed her on the cheeks.

A trip through the bifrost was never pleasant for Loki. His stomach clenched as they are transported to their destination on Midgard. Whereupon Loki stumbled, caught himself on a railing and peered many feet below to a busy street. The sounds of yelling and high pitched horns berated his hearing and he quickly drew back and covered his ears with his hands with a wince on his face; the sounds were making his head hurt. Thor noticed this and turned and grabbed Loki by the arm.

"Let us continue inside, Loki, where it will be less loud. I promise."

He allowed Thor to lead him. Inside the building was a large room, a living room, with a large couch and several tables and chairs. The young girl with the green cloak was the first to enter the building. A strawberry blonde haired boy slid off the couch and ran towards the girl and she easily picked him up into her arms.

"Loona! Fa...," the boy spoke happily until Loona held a finger to her lips in a sign of keeping quiet about the guest in the room. "How was Asgard? What was it like?" he asked with a large smile on his face and also sported the mismatched coloured eyes. "Was it grand? No fair either, I want to visit Asgard."

"You're not old enough, Erik," she kissed him on the cheeks and set him back down. "But it was beautiful. Everything is clad in gold, the lights are bright and there's gems everywhere. But I believe you would have been most interested in the weapons vault..."

Loki just continued to stare at the children and listened to their light hearted conversation as they walked back to the couch and sat down together. There was another child there, book in his hands and seemed to not to be paying attention to what else was going on around him.

Situated on a high stool at a bar sat a young blond haired man, toned, as he worked on a crossword puzzle with keen determination. Across the way at the table sat a red headed woman dressed in a black shirt and long flowing red skirt, a green bandana tied around her head; she was deep thought over her book to look up and see Thor enter the building.

There was a loud sound, a ding, that had Loki turning his head to the wall, where upon it opened and a sandy blond haired man stepped out, dressed in a red shirt, black jeans and combat boots.

"Hey Nat, I was wondering...," he spoke to the red headed woman at the table, but momentarily turned his ice ocean gaze in Loki's direction and froze in his tracks. "L..Loki?" he asked and a smile pulled across those thin lined lips. The red headed woman looked up from her book quickly and the blond haired man at the bar, turned and looked at Loki with wide eyes, shocked. He approached him quickly and Loki had no place he could escape to. The man threw his arms around him in a tight embrace and brought his lips to Loki's, kissing him.

What is wrong with him? Why is this male kissing him so affectionately? He whined softly as he glanced toward Thor for direction before he wrapped his long arms around the man in front of him. The man pulled back and continued to smile, he raised his hands to cup Loki's face. "Hey...I didn't know where you went...what happened? Where were you? I came back from my mission and you were gone. Even Loona didn't know what happened to you. I felt my heart sink, hoping it wasn't like the time you were stolen...no, I won't speak of that. I know you don't like talking about that time, and neither do I." He then took a step back from Loki with a smile still on his face.

"Wh...who are you?" Loki finally got the courage up to ask, brows knitted in confusion, felt a blush across his cheeks as he stared at the sandy blond haired man who stood just in front of him.

"Loki?" he asked back in return, a frown etched into his brow as he lifted a hand to Loki's forehead. He took this time as a sign and upon the mere contact, to extract memories from this man. He felt the rush of heat surged throughout his body, from the top of his head to his toes and settled in low in his neither regions. He felt he had a deep connection with this man that went further than just kisses, lovers. He was berated with senses and memories of heated passion and he took a step back in confusion and shook his head. "Loki...it's Clint..are you feeling okay?" the man asked of him and looked over at Thor. The blond Asgardian leaned close to the human and whispered something to him. Maybe he was explaining the situation. Loki took the time and slipped away when he could.

He found himself sitting on the couch, the girl with the green cloak, Loona, leaned against his side. The young strawberry blond haired boy, Erik, in his lap and the raven haired boy on his other side. Loki felt a pull to all of them, as if they were connected to him by blood. He tentatively touched all of them and received some memories of their times as infants. The raven haired boy, Misha, belonged to to the red headed woman at the table, while Loona and Erik belonged to Clint. All of the information made Loki feel woozy and he found he blacked out from too many memories to process.

When Loki came around, he looked up to a dark painted ceiling above his head. There were star constellations he knew painted up there and planets he did not know. He frowned in frustration at the sight of it, that he was not able to comprehend why it frustrated him so and sat up. He was laying on a bed, and down at the foot of the bed sat the young girl.

"You...," he spoke and pointed a finger at her, though he knew it to be a rude gesture, but at the moment in time he did not care.

"Loona," she smiled at him and moved a hand over her heart after correcting him. "Are you feeling better, fa...Loki," she corrected herself this time.

"What happened?" he rubbed a hand against the side of his head as it throbbed slightly and his vision blurred a little before things came back into focus.

"You passed out. Uncle Thor moved you to my room. It is the darkest. Though pappa wanted you to be moved to his room."

"Who?" he asked her.

"Uhh...Clint?" she looked at him and blushed, she found it odd saying her father's real name to someone.

"The sandy blond haired man?" Loki asked; he stretched his magik and morphed his form into the man he met earlier. He watched the girl's eyes widen and just nod her head. It was hard on him to keep up the illusion and dropped the magik. "So...you're my daughter..."

"Yes," she smiled again at him.

"It's just so hard...I wish I could remember," he rubbed at the back of his head. "You...are a sweet child...and know that is not easy for me to say."

"And half Jotun," she spoke and took his hand and he watched as her skin slowly shifted to a deep shade of blue, raised etched scars marred her skin and face, small horns protruded and curled back, when she opened her eyes her pupils were crimson red. "I am your daughter," she let go of his hand and he was speechless.

"Y..yes, you are," he whispered and then pulled her into an embrace and kissed the top of her head in a form of affection, something he found so alluring.

"So, you do not remember who we all are? You don't remember your family?"

"I can't remember anything of time spent here on Midgard. It would not have been on my itinerary as a place I would like to visit, if not to rule," Loki shook his head side to side slowly. "Just when I was brought before Odin, confused on the matter of how I ended up on Asgard. I swear I was somewhere else before I was brought into the assembly room..."

"Uncle Thor arrived months after Erik's fifth birthday to take you back to Asgard. He said you were called to sit in on some council meetings. I do not know what that means," she shrugged her shoulders and he continued to stare at her. "Pappa and I didn't hear any word back from you or see Uncle Thor..."

"I was in prison," Loki hung his head and shifted his gaze away from Loona. "So..you and...Clint...were waiting for my return?"

"Yes," she gave him a sad smile. "I missed you," she threw herself at him and wrapped her arms tightly around his thin frame. "But now that you are back, we are a complete family again!"

"Y..yes, but only if I could remember..."

"So...you don't remember what happened to you? Did you hit your head?" she frowned at him in concern and moved a hand against his forehead and then kissed it. Once more he was flooded with memories, of holding her as an infant in his arms, crying until his heart ached. What did those memories mean?

"Maybe something happened to me in the bifrost...it is a very narrow tunnel traveling to Asgard," he felt his cheeks heat with a slight blush as he looked back down on the young girl. "Loona...tell me more about...Clinton."

"Pappa? He's strong," she smiled as she held up her arms, in the sign of showing him her muscles. "He's always down at the gym working out to get stronger. He's an excellent marksman, deadly with his bow. He is sweet and funny, always getting me or Erik to laugh. And he...he loves Aunt Tasha," she moved her hands to her cheeks now, eyes wide. "Oh, shouldn't have said that!"

"It's okay, Loona," he reached out a hand to her. "It doesn't really matter to me who the mortal loves, since I don't remember him." Loki turned his gaze away from her as he slipped his legs over the edge of her bed and stood up on his own, feeling a little dizzy as he shuffled his booted feet towards the door. There was a pang of pain so sharp, in his gut, that he blacked out once more, he head hitting the floor hard.

"L..LOKI!"

Once more Loki forced opened his heavy lidded eyes to the darkness of a room that was not of Asgard and not of his cell. He was still on Midgard. Loki pushed himself up on his elbows as he looked down the length of his body and found his Asgardian garments were gone. He hissed in ire of the violation against his privacy and found he was dressed in a fine raw silk robe. He sat up and pulled at the strings around his waist to find himself bared underneath. Who would do such a thing? He glared about the room he woke up in, but there was no presence detectable, even without his magik to tell him so.

He slipped from the bed, which was no more just a mattress and a mess of a sheets on the ground, and began to snoop his surroundings. He stood before the dresser, opening the first drawer and found objects that he found curious to the owner.

"By Odin's beard, what is this?" he asked himself aloud and held up a square little package of colourful foil. He dropped it for something else that had caught his eye. He drew out a tube, and read the label. "Warming lubricant? What ever would you need that for?" He dropped it back along with the million of other foil square packages and shut the drawer with a loud thud. Just then the door to the room creaked open and Loki spun around quickly with a curse on his breath. He did not have his magik to help conceal himself and disappear.

"Whoa, hey, you're up," the sandy blond haired man from earlier, smiled as he stood in the doorway and flicked on the lights in the room. Loki flinched slightly at the sudden change and narrowed his gaze at the human. "So...you remembering anything yet?" he asked as he scratched against the back of his neck. "Thor tried to fill me in on what happened to you..."

"I'm fine. But I feel violated that someone took my Asgardian garments and dressed me in this robe. I am ..."

"Naked underneath? Yeh, I know. I did it," the man confessed with a smile. "And you...are looking skinner then normal; I could see and count all your rib bones, Loki."

"Don't use my name so lightly, mortal," he hissed as he kept a distance between the two of them, "when I don't who you are."

"Okay, whoa, no need to get testy," he man held up his hands in defense to Loki. "But trust me, I know you. I know you quite well."

"Do you now?"

"That pain in your gut...that caused you to pass out earlier in Loona's room, freaked her out by the way,...that's your Jötun heat pain, isn't it?"

Loki paused, jade eyes wide as he stared back at Clint. How would this mere mortal of Midgard know of that? Loki then moved a hand against his sunken stomach, as the pain was just a dull ache, still set deep.

"Yeh, I thought so. But...I can help you with that...maybe," Clint blushed a bright red across his cheeks. "Just...please...listen to me, Loki. I'm not going to hurt you. I never want to hurt you." He took a step closer and Loki gave up as he sat his arse back down on the 'bed' and the man crouched before him. Clint reached out to him and cupped Loki's face in his hands. "You will remember me...in time...I know you will, boss," he gave a grin that Loki did not understand, but he looked good on the mortal. He felt his lips against his and he actually opened his mouth and allowed the mortal's tongue inside. Felt his body edge closer until Loki leaned back and the other man was over top of him.

"What in the Norns are you doing?" Loki growled out his question in shock as the human's hands were pulling on the robe ties and parted the two halves to expose Loki's expanse of pale porcelain skin. He felt the mortal's large callused hands smoothing over his hollow belly and down his thighs. Loki felt a sensation that could not put his finger on about this act of affection and attraction. It was driving him wild while and he arched his back up off the bed with a moan caught deep in his throat. He shifted through feelings and could not place it.

"Relax, Loki," he heard the human's voice soft in his ears as he felt those lips against his neck and trailed down his chest and over his stomach to between his legs. Loki felt he had lost control of his limbs, replaced with radiating numbness of pleasure. "Relax and just feel me. Know that I'm treating you." Those warm lips were soon around something that should not be taken into one's mouth. Loki's head snapped around quickly as he stared down his body to mortal between his legs, hands on his thighs and having taken Loki's member deep into his mouth. Loki opened his mouth to exclaim what he thought, but there was no sound. He felt the other male's teeth scrapping against his skin, his tongue firmly pressed against the sensitive vein that ran underneath his shaft. Loki clenched his hands into fists, gripped the sheets tightly and arched his back once more as he was over taken in ecstasy as to what this moral was doing to him, a god.

"Clint!" he gasped as he threw his head back, thrusted his hips upward, eyes wide as he did not understand that he just yelled this human's name for a reason that he was coming in his mouth. He then felt the human withdraw his mouth from around his member and heard him licking his lips like a cat after lapping at a bowl of heated milk.

"Wow, Loki...have you been saving up?" It was a joke.

"I do not understand what you are talking about," he shot upright with a glare at the male in front of him and quickly covered himself back up from those ice ocean eyes of his.

"You called out my name...you must have remembered something..."

"You told me your name when I first arrived here, that is all," Loki spat, though deep in his mind, it was more than that. Clint only continued to smile at Loki as he smoothed a finger over his own lips. "Why...did you do such a...dirty thing?" he found himself suddenly asking the human.

"Huh? What, the blow job? Loki, come on, you like that. You've always liked that. It never upset you before. And it's not...dirty..."

"You took my member into your mouth!"

"Yeh."

"And the bodily purposes for that..."

"Yeh," Clint shrugged his shoulders. "But I got you to cum, didn't I?" he grinned again, making Loki almost gag. "Hey, Loki, don't do that," Clint frowned as he pushed Loki's hands away and opened the robe once more. "Look...feel this," Clint spoke as he brushed two fingers against a part of Loki's anatomy that only appears every so often and he had Loki curling his toes. "Your Jötun heat cycle is coming around again, Loki," he sighed and Loki did not understand why. "Who is it this time? Any...heads up?"

"I am to conceive a young?" Loki whispered and suddenly his mind was rushed with memories of finding a book in his room about the Jötuns of Jötunheim and their reproductive cycles. "I don't know," he whispers, jade green eyes wide as he continued to stare at Clint. "Is it you?"

"Me?" There is a laugh and a smile on the human's face. "Heck if I know. It always seems to jump around."

"I wouldn't mate with a Midgardian anyway," Loki sat up, covered himself and moved off of the bed. The pain is back, and it dug deeply inside him, causing him to groan.

"Loki..."

"Leave me alone, mortal. Stay out of my business. It is none of your concern," he mumbled as he threw open the bedroom door and stalked out. To where, he did not know. Anywhere, away from the Midgardian, whom he seemed to be attracted to, like a magnet.

Clint had sat up, spine straight, as he watched Loki's back as it exited through their bedroom door. He pushed the heels of his palms against his closed eyes with a painful groan. His heart sank when Loki left with a venomous hissed threat on his voice, the 'leave me alone, mortal' really got the message across. He really wished things were back to normal, back to the way they were before Thor came to fetch Loki away. He does not know what happened to cause Loki's amnesia, but he was going to find out some way or another.

There was also the fact of Loki's Jötun heat cycle that laid heavy on his mind. He never forgot the information Loki parted on him years ago, when it first began to plague the Asgardian. The fact that Loki were to search out the mate that will sedate his aching pain and conceive a young. It all written in the coding of his Jötun blood. But not any mate would do and only one in which his body had chosen. It was not always the same every time, Clint learned that the hard way when Loki became pregnant with Thor's young, which did not survive to birth. Then there was the son Loki had with Tony, who met a grizzly end to life none of them had ever forgotten.

Clint looked down to his left hand, the golden ring that Loki and Loona had picked out for him so many Decembers ago, glittered brightly in the light of the room. It was a wedding band, in which Loona chose for him and Loki swore his life over to Clint, for how ever long he would live (though Asgardians lived centuries longer). He turned the band around and around on his ring finger before he looked back up at the door and saw her silhouette, Natasha peered in on him.

"Hey, Clint," she whispered as she slipped in further into the room and sat down beside him in his nest of blankets on a mattress. Maybe it were time he got a real bed. "How are you doing?"

"This is hard, Nate," he groaned again and covered his face so she couldn't see him. "I just want things back to the way they were. When Loki knew me..."

"I'm sure we'll be able to pull him back, Clint, out of the amnesia...but you know that takes time. It's not something that can be fixed in a day. All we can do now is to share memories in hope of re-jogging his," she laid a hand against his back and rubbed it up and down until he uncovered his face.

"I understand," he mumbled as he stared at his open hands and then Natasha laid one of hers against his and leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "Nate...he's...," How to part this information on her? It's personal. "Loki's on his Jötun heat cycle again...I fear..."

"Whoa, you mean when he has girl parts?"

"Uhh...yeh. But Nate, he has to conceive...and I don't know and he won't tell me...with who!"

"Oh!" she stared at him and then smiled, "And you're hoping it's you."

"I always hope it's me. I...I don't like seeing or knowing he's with others...I..."

"And that time he had me...," she whispered and he looked over at her quickly and blushed.

"Th...that was different, Natasha, and that was wrong! He should have never done that to you! And it was my fault. I was not around. I was off on a mission and you were here with him and he..."

"Clinton," she whispered his name as she cupped his face in her hands and turned his gaze to her. "It's okay now. I'm okay now. But it's never going to happen again. I can take care of myself, you know that," she then kissed him ever so softly on the lips and drew back.

"I hope it's me..."

"I'm sure it's you," she gave him a wink that set his heart aflutter. "Now, let me get you out of this funk," she stood up and grabbed his hands as she pulled him to his feet once more. "What do you say to a sparring simulation down in the gym?"

"I could really use something to take my mind off of Loki right now," he spoke as he turned from her and walked to his closet. He pull on the sliding door and reached up for the top shelf, where there sat a long black locked box. He took it down and set it on the top of the dresser as he worked the locks and they sprang open with loud pops. Nestled inside was his pride and joy collapsible bow and a quiver of arrows. "I missed you," he whispered as he stroked his fingers over the bow.

He followed Nate out of his room as the two of them headed several floors down to the Avengers simulation room that was programed to help them in their key areas of expertise out in the field while it also worked on approving their teamwork. Clint and Natahsa worked fluidly as a team, maybe a little too much. Nate as the program bring up a simulation of a fight while running through a city, taking on numerous 'bad guys'. For the time being, Clint forgot all about Loki, all about the amnesia, all about his life. He was focused and absorbed in the simulation that he only came back to reality when he fell. Like falling from grace.

He instinctively held out his left arm in front of him, as it broke his fall and broke itself. He howled in pain and Natasha ended the simulation as his body left his hands and skidded across the floor and halted at her feet.

"Clint!"

"I...I'm fine, really," he held his left arm against his chest, filled with searing white pain.

"No, you're not. You broke your arm," she frowned as she crouched in front of him. "Lets get you to see Bruce. I'm sorry, Clint."

"Don't be. This was an awesome idea. It's been awhile since I've done some action like that, I was out of shape," he laughed light heartedly in hope of getting her mind off of his broken arm and how much a klutz he was.

"You're always in shape, Hawkeye," she cupped his face and kissed him before she helped him to his feet and they left the simulation room and headed to Bruce's lab (which took up one whole floor of Avenger tower).

Bruce was happy to help as he checked over Clint's arm and wrapped it tight and fitted him with a sling. No more bow time for him until the fracture is healed. Clint thought he might go stir crazy, not being allowed to use his bow and be out in the field with the others until Nate is at his side and whispering in his ear that she'd cover his shifts and speak to Director Fury about the incident and what Clint could do.

Loki was still lost in the maze of hallways that circumnavigated around inside the tower. He was able to make his way to one bedroom, Thor's name was on the plaque and he beat his fist against it.

"Thor, we need to talk! I don't like it here...just take me back to my cell. I much rather take that torture over what is happening here. Thor..."

The door creaked open on its own and Loki pushed his way through and peered in on the large well lit room. He spied Thor's back and two of the children from earlier, pensive and listening to their uncle as he was parting on them the story of the first bilgesnipe he and Loki took down and killed when they were no more than young boys who still thought they were blood brothers.

"And it charged at us with such speed that even I, the mighty Thor, was caught off guard. I had slipped back on some mud and fell on my back. I would have been trampled if it were not for Loki used his magic to keep at bay until I was able to regather my composure and grip Mjollnir tightly in my hand and take a might swing at the beast!"

Loona peered around her uncle as she spotted Loki in the doorway and Thor turned his head around to look also.

"Ah, little warriors, we'll have to finish the story later, I see Loki has shown up. Brother," he stood and turned to face him. The two children, Loona and Erik slipped off Thor's bed and around Loki as they exited the room, snickering past him. "Loki, you're awake and up. I was worried when Loona came to me about you having blacked out again and I had to come retrieve your body. What is wrong, brother?"

"Nothing," Loki growled as he nervously ran right hand through his long loose black hair, his fingers brushing against his scalp calmed him slightly. "I hate this place. It's...not where I belong, Thor. It's...I can't stand it. I'd much rather be back in my cell on Asgard then stay here on Midgard with these...humans...any longer," he growled, the feeling of violation from earlier still lingering inside of him and heavy on his mind. "That other man...Barton...he...was intimate with me..."

"He is your soul mate, Loki. The two of you are tied to one another. You still do not remember the vow you made to him and swore over your Asgardian life? Is your amnesia that deep set?" Thor asked him, frown lines deep in his brow as he looked over Loki dressed in merely a silk robe. It only made Loki feel even more violated as he felt Thor's eyes roaming over his body. He felt like a female at the moment and did not like the sensation of being looked over by Thor in such a way.

"I remember none of that and neither would I ever want to! Midgardians are a disgusting and primitive race that need to be wiped from their realm or at least ruled into submission by a worthy god," Loki hissed as he felt heat seething through his entire being and pooled deep in the recesses of his belly.

"No, Loki, this realm is still young and needs to be protected," Thor shook his head side to side as he approached Loki and reached out a hand to touch his cheek. Loki tensed up momentarily before he jerked back from Thor. "Loki...this is more than the amnesia, what is happening with you? Loki...your heat..."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" he felt his cheeks flushed with heat and his hands gripped the ties of the robe, ringing it over and over nervously.

"Who?"

"That...other Midgardian...and he touched me...he took my shaft into his mouth till I came and then he brushed his finger against..."

"Barton? Barton knows?" Thor asked and Loki did not answer as he turned back to the door whence he came through.

"Loki, wait! You can not be return to Asgard. That pain will not cease and you know it."

"I'd much rather have this pain than the pain of staying here with you and these primitive apes and not remembering the last decade my life!"

"You know that is not true, Loki. We will get you back your memories and help you through your Jöturn heat and keep watch over you and your unborn young."

"I am not mingling with a Midgardian!" Loki felt he was razors edge as he turned to yell at Thor for even mentioning the fact that he must take a mate and conceive a young even against his not wanting to. The jabbing pain was back and Loki's legs felt weak as he sunk to the floor in front of Thor with a moan, hands gripping at his stomach. "Make it...stop...make it stop...no form of magik will make it go away."

"Loki," Thor crouched in front of him and Loki did not have the strength to push him away as he was picked up off the ground and held against Thor's large chest. He actually turned his face and hid against Thor for some time till the felt the pain ebb away and he had the strength and pushed himself away.

"I have to do it...don't I?"

"Aye," Thor nodded his blond head up and down. "When does the pain mostly go away? When you're around who?"

Loki stared and then thought. "That male...Barton..."

"Then he is your mate..."

"I have to conceive with him?" Loki frowned as he shook his head. Yet as he gave it more thought, the other male is strong in body and surly strong in genes. "When?"

"Sooner the better, I suppose, brother," Thor answered and shrugged his shoulders.

Loki let out a pensive sigh as he left Thor's room and tried to make his way back to the room he was in earlier. Finding the door with a plaque reading 'HAWEKEYE' and he reached out a and ran his fingers over the letters. "Hawk? Why is that your nickname?" he frowned in thought before be turned the nob and slipped into the room.

He spied the Midgardian male laying on his bed, back toward Loki, so he tried to be quiet and he drew ever closer. He peered down on Barton now and his eyes were caught by something white wrapped around the human's left arm. He reached out slowly and laid a hand against the human's left arm. It is broken, he can sense that much, even without his magic. "Clint," he found himself sighing the human's name and filled with the sensation of a 'heavy heart'.

Just then the human opened his lazy eyes and turned his head to look up at Loki, with a slight smile on his lips.

"Hey...you came back, Loki..."

"You're hurt," he frowned down on the other male.

"Just a little training accident, nothing horrible. I'll heal up. I'm just human by-the-way."

Just human. Loki's heart continued to ache as he felt himself drawn down and he sat beside the human.

"Do you have anything besides this?" he asked as he tugged on the robe and Clint laughed softly.

"Yeh, I do," he answered as he slipped from his bed with some difficulty, and over to the dressers. He pulled out boxers, a pair of loose blue jeans and a black shirt for Loki before he pointed towards the bathroom. The god took them graciously and slipped into the bathroom to change into something that made him feel a little less exposed and more covered up.

When Loki returned to the room, Clint was sitting on the bed, looking up at him.

"Hey, it looks good on you. Then again, all clothes look good on you," he laughed softly and Loki felt relaxed around the human now.

"Earlier, you..."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. Especially with you not remembering...what we had together...it was wrong. We'll...we'll take it slow, Loki, I promise."

"Thor told me that you're my soul mate. I swore the rest of my Asgardian life to you..."

"Heh, yeh, you did," Clint spoke as he held up his left hand to Loki in a gesture he did not understand. He watched the human winced, as it was his broken arm, so Loki crouched before him. On Clint's finger was a fine band of gold and Loki felt drawn to it. "You got me this ring several years ago...Loona picked it out."

"I don't remember this fine piece of smith work," he spoke as he touched it lightly with his fingers.

"I hope in time that you do. I'm sure you will, Loki."

The silence drew out long between them as Loki lifted his jade green gaze to the male in front of him and felt an instant magnetic attraction to him. This Midgardian knew of his Jötun heat, was kind not to press Loki further on it, and Loki felt he had trust set deep with this mortal. He leaned forward slightly, rocked on his heels as his lips met with the mortal's and he kissed him. A way of passing on what little magic he was able to collect with his time here in the tower. He drew back with a blush and broke eye contact with Clint.

"Your arm shall heal in a day..."

"What...did you just do, Loki?" the human asked with a slight frown on his face.

"I transferred a little magik into your body. The majority of my magik has been locked away by the All-Father as part of my punishment, yet here...I have been able to collect on some magik that is floating around in the tower."

Clint sighed and smiled as he vocalized his 'thank you' to Loki and he accepted it. He still felt a little unease around the moral with the fact in his mind now that he is to take this Midgardian into his body and conceive a young with him. The magnetization pulled him back toward the mortal and he reached for his face with his hands and kissed him deeply again. He pulled back for a second before he dove back in head first down that was his life.

Clint's heart hammered in his chest, protected only by his rib cage from jumping up his throat. Loki was poised between his legs, body leaned in and his skillful silver tongue in his mouth. He couldn't help but moan and craved more from him, and yet at the same time it all felt wrong to Clint. Loki still was not back to being 'Loki' and Clint did not want to deal with his Jötun heat problem until the god came back full circle to realize who he really is and was, along with his life and family. For family matters.

He pushed Loki back with one hand against his chest and the god slipped back and sat on his heels as he looked back at Clint almost curiously. Clearly the trickster felt he had done something wrong by kissing Clint or the fact that he transferred some magik over so that his arm healed faster.

"This...is moving fast. I...I want you to remember more, Loki, before anything...drastic is going to happen or something you are going to regret," he sighed as he spoke the truth to the god of lies. "You can keep the clothes. You can can come back any time and go through my drawers or closest for anything you'd like. It's all yours, Loki. Just...I can't do this with you. I know, I instigated it first and that was my fault. It's just...lets work on getting your memories back first."

Loki stood now and towered over Clint as he looked down upon him. There were no other words exchanged, just glances before the god of lies turned and slipped out of the bedroom. Clint's heart started to slow down and he felt himself regaining his composure.

He laid back down on his bed as he ran his right hand over the sling his left arm was carefully cradled in. He slipped it out and then stretched his arm up toward the ceiling. He did the same with his right and then opened and closed his hands several times. There was no pain. Loki really did heal it for him. He lowered his arm close against his body and closed his eyes as he internally thanked the god before he found himself slipping into the world of sleep.

Clint woke the following morning wrapped in his bedsheets, alone in his room, how he had woken up the last few weeks. He untangled himself and dressed as he slipped out of his room without knowing where he was going. Just that he let his heart lead him down the halls of Avenger tower.

Clint found himself standing in front of her door. The mark of a black widow spider was painted onto the door almost crudely and Clint knew she did not do it herself and it must have been Tony. He tried the door without knocking and slipped into her bedroom as he heard the sound of running water coming from the bathroom. He stepped inside the steamy enclosed room and his eyes roamed to the glass panel doors of the small shower. Condensation had built over the panes and only hinted at her form, which left the first to Clint's imagination.

He felt as if someone had tied a string around his heart and was leading him closer to her. He quickly and quietly pulled off his sneakers, along with jeans and tugged off his shirt up over his head, all the while he listened to her singing in Russian in the shower.

He approached the shower as quietly as he could and opened the door before he slipped in behind her. He pressed his body firmly against her back, the two of them fitted together perfectly like Tetris puzzle blocks. She was not startled by him as he wrapped his arms around her, his large hands groping her breast as his shaft nudged through the perfect triangle juncture between her thighs and slowly became erect. He ground himself against her as he nuzzled his face against the back of her neck and forced her against the tiled wall of the shower and groaned in lust of the feel of her body. "Natasha..."

He felt as she moved her hands back to grab at his sides, felt him and dug her nails in.

"What do you have planned, Hawkeye?" she asked in a purr over the sound of the shower.

"To...actually shoot straight for once," he murmured in heated lust into her ear. He adjusted his hips for the head of his shafted nudged itself between the folds of her entrance. He felt her body shudder under the spray of warm water from the shower. He felt her spread her legs a little wider and welcomed him with accommodations. "To take you, Nate," he whispered as he slowly pushed himself deeply inside of her, enveloped by her heat and he felt her melt against him. He moved his fingers up and through her damp dark red hair as he began to thrust with his hips and worked himself in and out of her and kept her pinned against the wall as the spray of the shower trickled down their joined bodies.

The sounds of pleasure from her mouth spurred him on. While the shower helped to lubricate the scene of action, it was not what Clint had plan. He drew out of her and backed out of the shower. She wanted more and shut off the spray of water. Dried herself quickly before she followed him out of the bathroom. He picked her up and playfully tossed her onto her bed, where upon he slunk over her body and covered it with his own. With his mouth he left kisses along her neck and over her breast. She smelled sweet and clean and few drops of water clung to her frame.

He wrapped his mouth around one of her nipples and sucked as she racked her fingers through his short hair and arched her back up, pressing her belly up against his. Clint soon felt her as she wrapped her legs around his back and dug her heels into the small of his spine. He looked into her emerald green eyes momentarily before he nudged himself back into her sweet tightness. He thrusted his hips to the rhythm of her own and the two of them where like a fine score of music. He kissed her and claimed her mouth, muffled her cries of pleasure and lust as he sated himself deeply inside of her. He felt his sack clench and he could no longer hold back as he spilled his seed deeply into her womb and she called his name so sweetly.

"CLINT!"

"Natasha...," he claimed her mouth as he gave a few final thrusts in caution that all his seed reached it final destination before he slipped out of her and collapsed beside her, chest rising and falling.

"Oh, Clint, what got into you?" she asked as she moved her body over his and half laid over his chest and left a trail of kisses. "We...haven't done anything like that in ages. You're still as rigorous as always," she kissed his lips with a smile as her hands caressed his cheeks and he looked up at her, content with what is in front of him. His Natasha. "Did it have to do with Lo..."

"Shh...I don't want to speak about him," he pushed a finger against her lips and silenced her speaking about Loki any further. "Let us live in this moment. You and me." A smile tugged on his lips and she kissed him. She took the time to move her body over his and slipped him back inside of her as she rolled her hips with such skill as she gave him a fine show to watch. He reached out with his hands to hold onto her breast as they moved each time with her rolls and it was not long before she had him coming once more.

She collapsed on his chest with a laugh and a smile as she kissed him deeply before she turned her attention to his left arm.

"Clint...didn't...Banner said..."

"Broken? Yeh, it was..."

"'Was' is a past tense word, Clint."

"Loki healed it," he sighed.

"Loki doesn't have his powers," she frowned in confusion as she continued to lay on him.

"He said that he is able to collect on the magik that is floating freely around in the tower. Most likely Loona is throwing it off. That's what he told me when he...Lucia...was carrying Erik and she wove a spell of protection for the baby to stay safe."

"And he did stay safe," she smiled. "He is such a sweet child, if I do say so myself."

"And you don't think Misha is?" he asked as he caressed her cheeks with his large rough hands and brought her down for another kiss.

"Misha...takes after his father...a mischief maker," she blushed.

"Do me again."

"What?" she asked.

"Do me again, Nate, or I will flip you on your back and drill into you so hard that you wont' be able to walk the next few days."

"I do like that threat," she grinned and he did just as he told her. Again he came deeply inside of her and the two of them collapsed in a sweaty entangled mess as they slept away the following hours.

Clint slipped from her hold on him as he kissed her forehead and allowed her to keep sleeping as he got dressed once more and slipped out of her bedroom and headed up to the main living area of Stark tower. Feeling he has accomplished something great and feeling young once more.

What he walked in on once the elevator doors opened, was not what he expected.

After Loki had left the room of the mortal 'HAWKEYE', he had slunk off to the room Thor had given him to sleep in; he thought deeper of his attraction to the Midgardian male. He continued to wear the clothes that he was given to wear as he fell asleep in them, he could not stop smelling for the scent of the human as he slept alone in an unfamiliar room in an unfamiliar place, in a realm he did not like. The smell of the human was almost most comforting to him.

The following morning he woke with an idea in his head and sent Loona off with Thor on a secret mission to the goddess Idunn's garden, a small realm off the side of Asgard, hidden from the eyes of most so that her garden would remain safe. He having sent Loona to fetch something for him.

He sat on the couch in Avengers tower's living quarters when the two of them had returned, Loona with a basket in hands. Loona came running into the room and towards him as she jumped up on the couch beside him, curious as to what she just did and where she went.

"You were able to get one?" he asked her with a slight smile on his face.

"Yes, what does it do? It's just an apple, fath...Loki," she asked as she pulled back the cloth on the basket and revealed a single golden apple. Loki reached in with both hands, slowly and daintily, he pulled it out of its prison. He has waited centuries for this and now it is in his hands. On many occasions, he had fooled Idunn and tried his hardest to steal her apples, yet did not completely succeed.

"This, Loona, is one of the goddess Idunn's special golden apples of immortality. Every year at harvest time, Idunn collects her apples and makes a trip to Asgard, where they are then given to all the Aesirs to eat. To keep them youthful and young. Without them, they could all wither."

"You want to eat it," she smiled at him as she reached out for the apple and took it back from him.

"No," he shook his head side to side, for once he spoke the truth. "No. Not for me. For...Clint."

"For pappa?" she looked back up at him confused. "So...he...can live forever?"

"He'll live for centuries, that's for sure," he reached and took the apple back from her. "And he'll stay young. He will age, but at a very slow rate." He spoke as he closed his eyes and brought the apple up to his lips as he kissed it and took in its scent.

Just then Loki was startled by a sound of a door opening and he dropped the apple to the floor and it rolled away under the coffee table. He turned his head around to look at what startled him and saw the man named Clint, he stretched his arms, both, above his head with an audible happy sound. Loki turned his gaze to and saw Loona had slipped off the couch and was searching under the coffee table to retrieve the apple. Loki stood and approached the Midgardian with much speed and grace, stood above him and trapped his body against the wall.

Clint tried to take step back, startled that Loki was so close to him. He leaned in took in the human's scent as he leaned back.

"You smell of a sex and a woman. Whatever have you been doing, mortal?"

"That's...none of your business," Clint kept his distance and a blush crossed his high cheek bones as he looked back at Loki for being so closed. "Personal space, please." He slipped around the god and Loki watched him go to the cabinets and pull out a box, which he took to the table along with a bowl and carton of milk from the fridge. Loki turned as Loona darted past him for the table to join the Midgardian, golden apple still in her hand.

"Pappa," she pulled up a chair next to him as he poured the milk over his cereal. "This is for you. Lo..Loki made me and uncle Thor travel to another realm, just to get it for you." She held out the apple to him and he dropped his spoon back on the table as he stared at her and then up to Loki.

"Wh..what is that, Loki? Apples...don't look like that..."

"It is one of Idunn's golden apples. Rare and not easy to get ahold of. She doesn't just give them out to anyone. But it is for you, Clint. It's the apple of immortality."

"Loki..."

"I...want you to have it. I want you to live...like me...like the other gods of Asgard," he whispered as he spoke truth to the human, moved one hand over his heart, it hurt. "Live for centuries and stay young..."

"I can't," Clint pushed the apple back into Loona's hands. "No, Loki, leave me alone," he spoke as he turned his attention back to the bowl of toasted grains in front of him. Loki looked down at the floor before he pulled Loona back to him and lead her back to the room he was assigned to stay in.

"What are you going to do? How are you going to get pappa to eat it? He didn't seem too happy with you," Loona spoke as she continued to grip the apple tightly in her hands, and at the same time, held it with gentle care. Loki reached a hand out to her and set in on her head.

"We will get him to eat the apple, Loona. Even just a sliver. Give it to him when he is tired."

"That's usually when he gets back from a mission."

"Then that is the time you will give it to him, young one."

"Why don't you just do it?"

"Did you not hear your father? He does not want me around. He doesn't want to take it from me."

"Then you be tricky about it," she smiled at him and he blinked in confusion. Of course, she is his daughter. A trick would be the perfect way to get Clint to eat the apple.

"Very well, young one."

She nodded her head with a grin on her face and left his room, leaving him feeling emptier inside. The mortal would not accept his gift. He would get him to accept his gift.

Weeks pasted by slowly as Loki but watched the mismatched group that called themselves the 'Avengers'. He was forced to stay inside upon Thor's orders and the orders of the All-Mother, until he could control the seething pain deep inside his gut. Until he could conceive with young, as Thor had explained to him. The pain had grown steadily worse with time and the human he felt most attracted to, a shiny lure, stayed his distance from Loki. He would watch as the Midgardian male would come back from his missions battered and bruised and he would slink off to his room and slammed the door in Loki's face. Keeping him out of his life.

Loki also took close note of the Midgardian female as well, the one everyone called the 'Black Widow'. He watched her closely, watched as she seemed to slip through changes as Loki noticed. It only spurred his trickster rage as she seemed to spend most of her time around his human. That smell from a few weeks ago that lingered on Clint Barton, was her smell. She tried to steal his human away from him, but Loki would not allow any further interaction between the two of them.

"Really?"

"Really," she spoke as she handed over the small plastic stick to him. He took it in his hands and looked down on the small screen showing a '+' symbol and the word 'PREGNANT' capitalized and squished together. Clint looked back at Natasha with a smile.

"This...this is...wow...you're...," he couldn't get the exact words out of his mouth as he dropped the stick and quickly approached her, picked her up in his arms and twirled her around while he kissed her passionately, ran his tongue against the roof of her mouth as he purred lowly to her, eyes half lidded. "Natasha..."

"We're...going to be a family, Clint," she whispered back with a smile on her face and her cheeks flushed as red as her locks of hair. "But, our missions..."

"Will be compromised. I know. But we'll work it out. I'll work double shift for you," he kissed her again. "I'll even talk with Fury. He won't be pleased, but to hell with the guy."

"Clinton," she brushed her fingers over his face and he closed his eyes at the sensation. "Clint...how is this going to effect your relationship with Lo..."

He laid a finger over her lips as he opened his eyes and frowned down on her.

"No speaking about Loki...I mean...the guy still isn't all there. I've seen how he has been watching you, Nate."

"He's stalking me, so what?" she shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't want him close to you," he moved his hands to her hips, kept her body closely against his.

"Clint...you really should clear things up with Loki...you promised you were going to find out what happened to him. Why he has the amnesia, how he lost his memories of his time living here with all of us."

"I did," he glanced away from her as she brought up a bit of information he tried to forget. Deep inside, he still cared for the god. He was the 'mother' of his children after all. "I still will, Nate," he kissed the top of her head and stepped back. He smoothed his hands over her belly and felt a slight bump.

"Yes, Hawkeye, that is a baby bump. Now get your hands off of it and go look for Loki," she laughed and pushed him out out the door of her room. He felt giddy and happily throughout his entire being as he walked the halls of Avengers tower and up the living room.

Upon the doors opening, he spied Tony at the wet bar. The billionaire was just dressed in a plain grey t-shirt and baggy jeans around his hips.

"Birdcakes!" Tony called and hailed him over with one hand raised. "You're looking chipper. What has gotten your feathers ruffled?"

"Tony, what did I say about the bird commentary?" he walked up to the bar and sat on one of the high stools.

"That you love it. Come on, spill. Something has you happy."

"Natasha...is pregnant."

"Congratulations, you're a man," Tony poured him a tall glass of something strong. "Drink up, you're going to need it, pappa."

"Actually, no," he pushed the glass back toward Stark. "I actually am looking for Loki."

"Dude, your woman is pregnant and you're looking for the gods of lies? No," Tony shook his head.

"You know where he is, Tony. Tell me."

"Fine," he rolled his eyes. "You know his favorite spot...he's up on the roof."

Of course he would be up there. Clint turned away from Tony and walked back to the elevator, pushed in the special code for the elevator to go up to the roof. He pushed open the heavy steel doors out into the sunlight, momentarily blinded before he say the god's back as he sat on the edge of the skyscraper. Clint sighed as he walked over to him, kicked at the gravel that littered the top of the building and stood behind him, still a little tickled by heights.

"Hey, Loki...look...sorry I've been such an...ass to you lately," he scratched the back of his head as he spoke, but Loki never turned back to look at him. "It's just...Natasha and I...Natasha is pregnant..."

"The red headed woman I didn't want you to keep coming back here to watch while you were under the control of the tesseract," he spoke quickly and almost so softly that Clint did not hear him. But he did. He leaned down close to Loki as the god turned his head and stared at Clint blankly in pure confusion. "The woman...Black Widow...she is pregnant with young?"

"Uhh...yeh, she is, Loki. She's pregnant with my baby."

"Clinton," Loki spoke his name as he stood up on the edge of the skyscraper with such grace, Clint did feel like snatching out and pulling him back so he wouldn't fall. Though Loki had the balance of a cat. "Clinton, you did a horrible thing," Loki spoke those six words and they almost stopped his heart as the god spoke no more and he walked toward the door leading off the roof.

Clint sighed as he looked over the edge of the skyscraper, down to the street below. Listened to the car horns and people yelling, over head he saw jumbo jets and helicopters fly over his head and the world kept turning. His world had just stopped.

The female of the team of Avengers was pregnant with the young of his chosen mate, his human, his Midgardian. This spurred hatred and jealousy deeply inside of Loki's twisted and dried up soul. He braced his hand out against the wall of the hallway as he made his way back to his room after his confrontation on the roof with Clint Barton; as the pain in his gut clenched tightly and caused him to sink down on his knees. Each passing day the pain grew stronger, as if someone was stoking a fire deep inside of his being, yet he could not put it out. He pulled up the edge of his shirt and pressed the palm of his right against his sunken belly and eased the pain for some time with a slight spell.

He pushed himself back to his feet, caught his balance, as he forced himself to continue walking down the hall as he stopped in front of the door to the bedroom of the red headed woman. He reached out and turned the knob on the door as he slipped inside silently as he could.

She sat on the edge of the bed, dressed in lacy lingerie and nothing else. Her skin was a creamy white and it looked as if she had never seen much sun in her life. She lifted her green eyed gaze to him as she heard the door open.

"Loki," she spoke his name as she stood up quickly on her feet and looked at him with a blush across the top of her cheeks and she moved her hands to almost cover herself. It would do her no good. He walked up to her without a word, response, and pressed his right hand against the slight bulge of her belly.

"You really are with young and with my Midgardian."

"Clint," she laughed softly, nervously. "Did he find and speak to you, Loki?" she asked as she took a step back from him, already seemed scared of him.

"Why?" he asked between gritted teeth.

"'Why' what?"

"Why did you conceive a babe with my Midgardian?"

"Loki...we're...we're all friends here...we are a family," she spoke with her hands up in front of her as he stalked her over to the glass doors that led to the balcony. "Don't you remember? You have to remember that. We...you...me...we had Misha to bring us together as a family. You wanted me with you and Clint..."

"He is mine, not yours, female. Worthless little mewling quim," he spat his curses at her as he snatched out for her, grabbing hold of her arm as tightly as he could. He had the deep setting anger to throw her off that balcony. End her life and the life of that babe that he would not allow to come in between him and his mate. The door to the room opened quickly and Loki snapped his head around to see his human standing there, wide eyed. "Hawk," he spoke the single word without knowing the meaning and what it meant to Clint.

"Loki, stop!" he approached the god quickly and snatched Loki by the wrist tightly, tugged him away from Natasha when he let go of his grip on her. "Loki...look...it doesn't have to be like this. We..."

Loki hissed like a pissed feline, eyes narrowed as he yanked back out of the human's hold before he tossed Clint toward the bed. Natasha covered her face with her hands, too scared to look as the two males began to fight.

"Worthless, weak human. I could easily break you in two. I could easily snap your neck with my bare hands and end your meaningless existence," he approached the side of the bed, closed in on him and remembered why he did not like Midgardians in the first place. They were fragile. So easy to squish, kill, and maim.

"Loki," Clint regained his composure and righted himself on the bed, sitting before the god. If only now he would bow and pray to him, as they all should. "Look...I...I'll make it up to you. I'll make your pain go away. I can make it...go away," he panted, tried to distract him from the woman, and winced as Loki lashed out at him, hit him square in the jaw.

"Mortal!"

"I'm the only one who can make your pain go away," he spoke as he rubbed against his jaw and then looked toward the red headed female and gave her a wink. "Loki...calm down," he looked back to the god before him and the female slowly approached the both of them. Loki turned his gaze to look at the her as she approached his side and grabbed him by the arm, tenderly.

"Loki," she whispered his name and he felt his heart soften to her as she pulled him against her body, flushed. He pulled back from her in disgust as he focused his attention back on Clint. He needed to make the human pay for his crime.

"Make it go away, Clinton," he pleated, his heart sank as the pain returned and ebbed deeply inside of him. "Make it go away...hawk."

The human nodded his head and Loki watched as he stripped all articles of clothing from his body. His gaze racked over the human's body, that was toned with muscle, though not like Thor. He spied the scars that the archer tried to hide, as if embarrassed and ashamed of them. Loki did not find any of them to be offensive or repulsive. He sunk to his knees on the edge of the bed as the other male reached out for his neck and tugged him down lower towards him.

He felt the woman, the female moved behind him and began to undress him of the clothes he was wearing. Soon he was nude along with Clint. The human gave him a smile before he moved his hand between the god's legs and inserted two fingers deeply inside him and caused Loki to arch his back.

"I know what you like, Loki," Clint smiled before skillfully put Loki on his back against the sheets as he ran his fingers through Loki's raven black long hair. "Shh...just relax." Loki closed his eyes and opened his other senses to what was to follow.

Clint had Loki wrapped around his little finger and the god was willing to do anything to please him and wipe away the pain that he knew was plaguing and crippling him the longer that he put it off. Clint knew what he had to do. He moved his body over Loki's as he claimed the trickster's mouth and inserted two fingers deeply inside of his body until the god arched his lower back up off the bed. Clint felt the bed shift and looked behind him to see Natasha as she peeked around him.

"Bozhe moy! Is that...?" she asked as she eyed Clint's fingers slipped inside of Loki.

"Yes and no, it's not always there," he answered her as he hooked his middle finger to rub gently against Loki's special spot, pressed against the sensitive nodes and Loki whined softly. He pulled his fingers out and smoothed his hands over the god's stomach, pressed down gently as he felt the god's ribs. Clint sighed and shook his head. He doubted Loki could last to carry any baby with how thin the god was, putting weight on him was not a simple option.

"Clinton," Loki whined at him and brought his attention back to the god splayed in front of him. When Clint looked over him, he saw Lucia and his heart stopped. He loved her, he loved Loki. That long hair cascading on the pillow, created a halo around his head as those jade green eyes looked back up at him, pleated.

"Luc..."

"Huh?" Loki looked up at him confusion and Clint shook his head. Amnesia. Loki would not remember Lucia. He moved his hands to hold Loki's face, keeping him to look at him.

"I love you," he whispered to him, his jaw was still sore from when Loki knocked him earlier.

"Just take me, Midgardian, and make it worth my while," Loki growled lowly and Clint remembered Loki's temperament was always quick to change. He took hold of Loki's hips as he firmly pressed himself deeply inside the trickster. He could not hold back the moan that had built up inside of him. It had been quite some time that last he slithered into Loki and he felt himself enveloped by his internal muscles that clamped around him and formed a nearly perfect seal. He began to thrust his hips with a gentle roll while he looked down over Loki beneath him. He soon felt his legs wrapped around his lower back and brought Clint down on him. "Hawk," Loki whispered as he held Clint's face in his hands. "My...little hawk..."

"Yeh...Loks...you use to call me that all the time. I...was your hawk...and you my boss," he couldn't help but smile afterwards. The god might slowly be remembering himself. Clint paused the thrust of his hips as he felt Natasha's little hands moved around him and reached to grasp Loki's shaft. Clint looked down and watched as she worked and pulled on him, rubbed him in a way that caused Loki to shudder and made the deep more enjoyable, the three of them.

Clint continued until he felt his sac tighten, Loki gripped his legs around his back and Clint lifted the god's hips up. With this angle he gave one last thrust that sent him deeply inside as he spilled his seed to the last drop into Loki's waiting womb. At the same time Loki came, it all dribbled down his chest toward his neck as he panted and tried to reclaim his breath and composure. The trickster pulled him down instantly to his lips and kissed Clint, holding him in place over top of him.

There was something sweet and something bitter, a taste on his tongue, that when Clint drew back, he felt confused. He shook his head as he swallowed nervously at the taste and looked back down at Loki's grin. The god had tricked him on something and Clint couldn't help but give a short laugh. This was like old times. He drew out of Loki ever so slowly and the god rolled over on one side and curled up on himself, Clint rubbed his back.

"Hey, Loki...you okay...please...," he sighed as he followed the trickster's backbones, every bone up to the base of his spine. "I don't know if it's going to work this time," he whispered in the god's ear. "You're so small and so skinny and weak, Loki. If you are able to conceive...I don't believe you will carry to birth."

"I will. Don't underestimate me, human," he turned over to face him with a frown, his hands traveled over his sunken belly, his hands glowed a pale blue with the little magic he had left and he closed his eyes. "It is done. The pain...it's gone," he smiled and looked back over to Clint. "And you...my mate...going to live with me."

"Huh?" he asked before the room around him disappeared in a flash of light that blinded his eyes and opened them again to see the two of them were laying on a bed covered in a thick white fur blanket. "LOKI...what did you do?"

"Welcome to Asgard, immortal one."

"What?"

"You had taste of Idunn's golden apple."

"I...I did not...," he felt himself begin to hyperventilate as he took in his surroundings of the room. This had to be one of his illusions, Loki was always up to something. "You...tricked me...when you brought me down for that kiss...that bitter sweet taste..."

"The apple," Loki sat up on the bed with and arm over his stomach as he grimaced. Just then the illusion did drop and they were still back in Natasha's room.

"Loki, you're weak," Clint sighed as he looked from the god to Natasha. "Thanks for letting us use you're room," he gave her a wink before he slipped over the edge and got himself dressed. He helped Loki put on some clothes before he picked up the god's lithe body and carried him out and to his room. He laid him down and smoothed a hand over Loki's forehead, he was burning up. "Loki...you can't die...you're immortal...please be okay," he leaned in and kissed him as he made Loki comfortable on the bed.

"Time, give me time, hawk," Loki closed his eyes and Clint watched him slipped into sleep.

Loki woke in confusion and dizziness upon he sitting up in a bed different than the the one he was staying in, the one Thor had assigned him to. He looked around the room as his head ached. It felt odd and familiar to him at the same time and rubbed his fingers against his temples as he slipped his legs over the edge of the bed and his feet touched the carpeted floor. He shuffled his way to the curtains and pulled them open. A rush of sun ran around the room and blinded him. Once his eyes adjusted he took sight of the balcony outside and the buildings across the way. He shut the curtains and stumbled back and braced himself against the wooden dresser, where he found a hand written note scrawled out, addressed to him.

'Loki,

You weren't looking so well and you felt so hot to the touch (which is unlike you since...yeh, I know your Jötun heritage), so I left you to rest in my room. I was sure you wouldn't mind. I'm off on a mission for the next month and will not be back to Avenger tower to check on you. I am sincerely sorry this had to happen like this...but this is my job.

Love, your hawk. Clint'

He held the note in his hands and re-read it over and over till all the words were burn into his brain and he set it back down on top of the dresser. 'Hawk'. Why did that word stir something deeply inside of him that almost made him emotional? A month, the archer was going to be gone a mission. Clearly his Widow would not be with him, the pregnant female was in the same building with Loki.

Loki turned and shuffled into the bathroom and shut the door behind him as he taught himself how the shower worked and turned on the water until the steam filled the room and he stood underneath the spray as it washed and lapped against his body sensually and leaned his forehead against the tiles of the shower wall. What happened to his memories of this place, of this realm? He wanted to remember them, so badly wanted to remember.

He turned off the water and stepped out and dried his body down with a towel as he looked down his form and spied it in the mirror, he was able to count all his ribs. Was this what his human was concerned about with him? Then Loki would eat more, he would make himself eat and put some meat on his body, for Clint and for the young he would be carrying. He brushed his fingers lightly over his belly and paused in thought of swelling with young.

He pulled clothes on that he found in the closet before he slipped out of the room and up to the room he first entered when he arrived here on Midgard with Thor. It was quiet when he shuffled his feet over the linoleum floor to the cabinets behind the bar.

"Looking for something?"

Loki, startled, froze and then turned around to looked at Loona as she stood behind him, smile on her face and hands behind her back. The young girl was sweet and kind to him, yet Loki sensed she had a streak of mischief inside her, making her his daughter.

"Food. Where do you keep the food?" he asked, more croaked his question to the young girl, as his throat was dry and his mouth was parched.

"Well, Tony doesn't have much food around here. He can't cook. There is cereal," she walked around him as she climbed up on the counter and reached the higher cabinets. She pulled out a box and then a bowl for him, next a spoon from the silverware drawer and then lastly to the mini fridge where she pulled out a carton of milk. She carried all of it to the table and he slowly followed her. She prepared the dish for him and told him to sit down as she pulled a chair up along side him at the table. "Do you like it?" she asked.

"It is crunchy. What is it again?" he took a few bites and chewed as he looked over at her smile.

"Cereal," she told him slowly in hopes it might stick in.

"Right, yes, of course. Loona...would you help me with something?"

"Of course I would," she continued to smile at him.

"I need...to put some meat on my bones for Clint...would you help me to do that? It would make him...happy." And happy is just what he wants from his Midgaridan mate.

"I can feed you," she smiled and he knew she was sensing responsibility and it didn't bother her in the least. She rested her chin on her folded hands, elbows on the table top as she watched him until he had finished the bowl and drank the left over milk. "Know that will do you good. Milk is full of calcium and is good for strengthening the bones."

He looked her over and blinked he eyes. The young little girl was quite informative of Midgardian information, she could be very helpful to him. "Is it now? Well, I need strong bones to carry my young."

"You're having another baby?" she gawked and slammed her palms down against the top of the table, startled him, and leaned in close. "I'm having another sibling?"

"Ummm...," he stared at her and had to remind himself that she is of his blood, therefore the new young will be her sibling too. "Yes, yes, there will be a new sibling for you." He did not want to tell her that he wished deeply to get rid of it once it were born, fear settled in him that it might turn out looking like his frost giant parentage.

She took him by the hand without a word of where they were going and she led him down to ground level of the building and out of Avenger tower, mingled among the crowds of humans outside on the streets. He followed her into a store that was filled with Midgardian foods, open and packaged. So this is how humans got their food, raw and cooked. He looked things over as they passed them, while he stuck close to Loona as they picked up different slabs of meats and different cuts of choices of meats, and some baked breads along with rustic coloured tubers that they would take back back with them to cook for meals. He stood in line with her and other humans, and he was impressed at how she handled herself and paid for the groceries before they walked back to Avengers tower. It was an interesting field trip that gave Loki a new perspective on the human race and his 'daughter'.

Upon having taken the elevator back up to the living quarters, Loki spotted the red headed female was awake and was sitting at the table reading a newspaper.

"Loki," she spoke and gave him a smile as she looked up at him and Loona having stepped out of the elevator with a bag in his hands.

"Aunt, Nate, can you cook for fa...Loki?" Loona asked as she stood beside Natasha at the table.

"Cook?"

"Yes, pappa wants Loki to 'put some meat on his bones,'" spoke and pointed back at him with a blush on his face.

"I understand that," Natasha put her newspaper down on the table and reached out, took the bag from Loki's hands. He took a seat at the table and watched the female as she worked with the small kitchen appliances with the help of Loona. "It's going to take some time cooking, so why don't we...help Loki try to remember a few things?" she suggested to Loona when she returned to the table and joined them.

"Do you remember when we snuck out of Avengers tower and went to the jewelry shop? We picked out a simple gold wedding band for...pappa," she tapped a finger against her ring finger. "It had wings etched on the inside. You thought it was a perfect choice."

He sat there silent and racked over his brain, yet nothing revealed itself and he shook his head.

"How about when Aiden was born? I heard from...pappa...that he found you out living in the wilderness outside of New York...after you left us months before without a word?"

"Aiden?" he asked as he doesn't remember meeting a child of that name when he first arrived at Avengers tower a couple months back.

"He...he pasted away some Decemebers ago and...it made Tony very sad, but you took Aiden to the halls of Valhalla."

As she spoke those words, they settled deep in Loki and he felt he almost remembered having made that trip, but he was not certain.

"Do you remember the ocean?" He blinked in confusion. "We were invited out to uncle Tony's mansion in California for the summer. We were all down on the beach with our toes in the sand and the water lapping at our feet. But...you had your accident."

"Accident?" Loki asked, curious.

"You...ventured out further into the ocean and when you weren't paying attention, a wave came up behind you and pushed you under the water. You hit your head against a rock and were knocked unconscious. Pappa went running in to save you and Tony had an ambulance drive you to the hospital. You were...4 months along with Erik. Father was scared of loosing you both and didn't leave your side for very long."

That sounded like something he would remember. There was a sharp pain in his skull and he rubbed against his temples in a circular motion. "Lucia?"

"Yes," Loona smiled. "You...that was the name you were going by as grandfather...Odin...had punished you for some crimes and forced you into your female form. You were allowed back here and...continued life as a normal human."

"A normal human, pregnant...," he frowned upon the thought, it sounded horrible and filled with pain.

"So...you don't remember me?" she asked and he stared at her. "How I came into this world...stolen from you, cut from you, part of Kai's sadistic collection..."

"I remember none of that," he shook his head and felt a little glad that he didn't remember it, but he felt horrible that that was how his daughter was brought into the world.

"You don't remember when he kidnapped me and held me as his science experiment for breeding...and you and pappa found and rescued me? Of course with Tony in tow."

"No," he shook his head from side to side as they pasted the time with more trivia that he could not recall and soon the food was done. Natasha placed a plate in from of him with a slab of meat and some of the tubers from the store.

"Pork chop and roasted potatoes. You can't get any more American than that, Loki," Natasha spoke to him as she set down the plate and then sat across from him at the table.

"That looks really good, aunt Nate!" Loona exclaimed and Loki took up the fork and knife to eat the meal the the red headed woman had prepared for him. It was different tasting than the way meats were prepared back on Asgard and he grew quite found of this dish as he cleaned his plate of every morsel of food and his belly felt satisfied. Loona took his plate and replaced it with a heated beverage. "Mint tea," she explained to him, "To ease your belly."

She really was quite versed in Midgardian ways that Loki trusted her and sipped on the steaming drink as he felt the warmth radiate throughout his entire body. He could get use to this.

A couple of weeks had pasted by slowly by since Clint Barton, Hawkeye, had left on a mission and Loki was left back at Avenger tower and the female, Natasha, cooked meals for him every day. He had put on some weight, which made his rib bones less prominent when he looked at himself in the mirror every morning after he spent time standing under the warm spray of the shower. Still no memories came back to him and he felt as lost as when he first arrived at the tower, of when he was back in his cell back on Asgard. He felt as if he would have been better off living back in his cell than here at the tower with the band of misfits that called themselves 'superheroes.' Though another trip through the bifrost might just do him in, and he disregarded the thought of having Thor take him back. He had no thought on how a trip through the bifrost would effect his young.

Loki found himself looking down his body to the slight swell of his lower abdomen, where his young had taken root and grew with each passing day. His smoothed his fingers over his skin that had become tight and looked back at the reflection of himself, naked, in the mirror. He never thought he would have looked like this. Never in the many centuries he had lived so far.

There came a knock at door to the bathroom door and Loki turn in confusion as he reached for the knob.

"Loki...come on, I know you're in there. You used up all the hot water, didn't you? You...always liked to just stand there under the hot spray till you drained all the hot water."

He paused, his hand gripped tightly on the knob. He knew that voice and opened the door. On the other side stood Clint Barton, Hawkeye, battered and bruised, bleeding from the head, but back earlier from the mission then what he wrote on that note he left behind. Loki grimaced at the sight and Clint pushed his way into the bathroom along with him before he stripped himself of his SHIELD uniform, which was singed and torn.

"Barton?" Loki asked.

"I know, I'm back earlier than I expected. Sometimes shit happens and sometimes Fury gets pissed and he kicks you back home. So he I am," Clint explained in his best words as he turned on the water and stepped into the shower, washed away the dirt and grime of his of his mission with the single bar of soap in the shower. "Fuck," he cursed and Loki winced as he heard the Midgardian curse word, though he did not understand its meaning. "I...really should see to some...medical attention. I thought I was hidden pretty well."

"What is it?"

"Bullet...in my ribs. Fuck, it hurts."

"I could take it out for you," Loki offered and the water of the shower was cut off and Clint stepped out, cleaner then before and toweled himself down. "I could take out the bullet for you, it would be painless."

"With magik?"

"With magik," Loki nodded his head. "I've been saving some up and this...is the time worth using it."

"I don't want to drain you, Loki," Clint finished drying his hair and rehung his towel on the rack and turned to him wearily as he covered the wound on his left side with a hand. Loki reached out and pulled Clint's hand away and accessed the wound for himself. He sensed the bullet was lodged in the human's ribs, caught there and stuck. He called upon what little magik he had and worked the bullet out of Clint's body until it fell into his hand. He dropped the bullet to floor as he doubled down in pain. Using magik was taking a toll on his body and he was unable to control the side effects any longer.

"Loki!" Clint called his name and crouched down in front of him, large hands settled on his shoulders as they pushed him back to look up at the human. "Hey...what was that?"

"Little...side effect...using even little bits of magic now has a toll on me," he sighed as he regained himself and stood up. He pulled on some of Clint's clothes before looking back at the Midgardian still naked and fresh from his shower. "I suggest you dress that wound, least you want it to become infected," he spoke as he opened the door and stepped back out into the bedroom.

"Loki," Clint growled as he snatched out quickly and caught the trickster by the left wrist. "I...I just got back...lets...spend some time together..."

"You just got back early from a mission you said you'd be gone a month for. You need to rest, Barton," Loki looked back at him with half lidded eyes as he felt queasy from being touched.

"I'm fine," Clint huffed in protest. "You...took out that bullet...that was worse. Let me just..."

"I'll tend to your wounds, human. Just bring your box of wrappings out and I will cover them."

Clint did not argue with Loki and he grabbed the first aid box from under the sink and stepped out into the bedroom. He sat down on the edge of his bed as Loki meticulously cleaned and dressed his other wounds of cuts, scratches, scrapes and some burns against his skin. Loki almost felt a sense of pride, able to complete the other wise simple task for the human. When finished, Clint pulled on a pair of his work out shorts and a loose shirt before he sat back beside Loki.

He watched the human's every movement, down to Clint having reached out his left hand and placed it over Loki's belly. There was silence between them.

"It is there," Loki spoke lowly and Clint drew back his hand.

"I...saw you put on some pounds...I...couldn't see your rib bones as much as I use to."

"I did it for you," Loki nodded his head, he did not tell him that Clint's female companion had been cooking meals for him. "I just wish I could remember why I did anything for you..."

"Because you can't resist me or keep me off your mind?" Clint asked with a shrug of his shoulders and wore a cheeky grin on his face. Loki felt he should feel something with that expression, but he did not. "After what happened here...after the incident with with the tesseract and the Chitauri race...you were sent back to Asgard for punishment. I thought I had my life back together when you returned with Thor." He sighed as he spoke and looked back down at his hands. "I was wrong. My life was turned upside down...possibly for the better. Though I wanted nothing to do with you after...you had me under your mind control and the things we did, the things you made me do...the people I killed..."

"I remember none of that."

"Yeh, I know. And I wonder why you don't remember any of that. It was like...huge!"

"I can believe that."

"Here," Clint reached out a hand again and prodded it against Loki's abdomen, against the side of his right hip, where there was a scar Loki did not recall. "You still have a bit of the tesseract...you hid it away in your body," Clint sighed as he told him the tid bit of information. Loki could not help himself, but he too ran his fingers over the scar and looked back to Clint. "I'm going to help you get your memories back, Loki. I swear to it. I...it doesn't feel right to have you so confused when I try to speak to you about anything."

"Thank you," he nodded his head and was surprised that those two words slipped out of his mouth, so unlike him. He looked back to Clint as the human leaned in and pressed his lips against Loki's. He was resistant before he opened his mouth for the other male and allowed his tongue inside.

Clint was gentled as Loki felt his large calloused hands against his hips and he made Loki slowly lay back on the bed as he continued to kiss him. A warm sensation rushed throughout his body and Loki felt himself relax around the Midgardian who was rubbing his palms up and down his sides and over the small swell of his stomach. Loki felt a little sick with wonder what the human thought.

"I..."

"I can feel it," Clint replied quickly and smiled down on Loki. "You're...already showing," he blushed slightly and Loki felt his cheeks heat also as the human had pulled off the covering of his his legs and he felt that large hand quickly grip his shaft. He gave it less than gentle tugs while he pressed his thumb firmly against the crown. Loki felt his body give a shudder and all his excitement pulled deeply inside of him as Clint silently worked his way deeply inside of him without any preparation. The friction caused Loki to moan. He felt himself squirm almost as the human lifted his legs and put them over his shoulders as he forced himself deeper to the hilt inside of Loki. He winced a little in pain as Clint nudged into his womb.

"Shhh," Clint tried to soothe him and brushed his hands over Loki's cheeks and kissed him with affection and attention as he rolled and thrusted his hips skillfully. "I may be tired from my mission...beat down...but I always have energy for this," he grinned and Loki nodded his head, though he did not completely understand. Clint kept up with his thrusts and drove Loki into a frenzy before his womb was filled with what he craved from his mate and it made all his pain from before melt away. Clint threw his head back and his body tensed as he came and Loki watched with enjoyment in his heart to see the human like this. Clint leaned back in and kissed him before he pulled himself out of Loki and laid beside him on the bed and panted. "Fuck...I needed that."

"You could have gone to your female...," Loki piped up.

"Don't...Loki," he spoke and rose a finger and he wondered what could have happened between the two of them. "She doesn't know I'm back yet even."

"She is with your child...you should..."

"I will...later. Now, I'm with you," he rolled over and kissed him again passionately. "Loki...I...love to hate you and hate to love you. You always confuse me, but that keeps me intrigued about you." He rubbed his hand again under Loki's shirt, over his swell. He felt him already making a connection with the young growing slowly inside of his body, tapping into his magik supply. He should savor this moment with Clint without arguing with the human and causing him to leave.

Loki rolled onto his side and pressed his body firmly against Clint as he closed his eyes. He no longer wanted to return to Asgard, but to stay here, where he was safe. So he thought.

He was neck deep in a vision, a dream of sorts. Before him he saw a young boy and a young girl, hand in hand, innocent. He could sense the two were twins, of magik in their bloodlines. Their eyes, he felt, pierced right through him and he felt as if they saw into his twisted soul. Loki felt his heart ache as he thought of his own sons from centuries ago, Vali and Narvi. The vision was flooded with a gush of blood and Loki felt as if he were drowning, he had lost sight of the young twins as he had the urge that he was meant to protect him. Something was wrong, something was terribly wrong.

Loki scissor kicked his legs underneath the blankets that covered his body, while a searing white pain in the deep recesses of his abdomen, as if someone were jabbing a blade into him and spilling his internal organs. He shot up, drenched in cold sweat, clenched his arms around his sides and he leaned forward all while muttering a stream of Asgardian curses. The pain was deep in his gut, where the young had taken up residence to grow, the womb. He was at least two months along in his pregnancy with the young inside of him and his abdomen swelled larger each passing day. His cries of pain and curses woke Clint out of his dead sleep and the human was asking him a string of questions he did not know the correct answers to. It frustrated Loki as to not knowing what is wrong with him.

"What? What is it? Is there something wrong with...?" Clint asked as he tried to reach out a hand to touch Loki's belly and he slapped the human hard on the wrist quickly, almost broke his wrist.

"That is where the pain is emanating. Something is not right, something is wrong," he hissed as he slipped out of the bed and made for the door before he collapsed to floor on his knees. There was a flash of memory that came into his mind that left him breathless. A white room, strapped down on a table, a young blonde haired boy who was wielding a large sharp knife approached him, a wicked grin on his childish face. Loki shook his head as he tried his hardest and pulled himself out of the memory. "What...?"

"What?" Clint echoed back to him as he lifted Loki back up on his feet, his legs shook badly as he tried to remain balanced on them. "What's wrong?"

"A child, Midgardian, who wielded a knife...to cut me open..."

"No," Clint frowned and quickly pulled Loki against him, though he was slightly taller than the human. "You...that's one memory I don't want you to remember. Do not remember that one, Loki. Any other, but that one."

"I was...held captive?"

"You were kidnapped and that kid was twisted and sick. Good thing Loona killed him," he spoke as he lead Loki back to the bed, it was midnight.

"My daughter...killed someone?"

"He deserved it."

The ebbing pain, sharp, was still there, deep in his abdomen and he tried pressing his fingers against the pain. It was along side his young. He feared the worst, if it were a growth or something worse. He had no magik left inside of him to check on it or make it go away, dissolve the pain. He only knew that something was wrong.

"Barton, I think...I may need to see your...healer."

"Doctor? Oh, Bruce? Why? Why won't you tell me what is wrong?" he asked frantically.

"I have no more magik to check on the young...and there...may be something wrong," he felt his legs shake as he stood before before the human, he did not share about the earlier vision he had, of the two young twins and all the blood. The human nodded his head in understanding as he pulled on some clothes quickly and the both of them slipped out of the bedroom together to the lab. Bruce Banner's room was just off the side of his lab and made it easy for him if he stayed up late working. Clint did the honors of waking the doctor as nicely as he could and Bruce agreed to check on Loki.

He was ordered onto an examination table and told to lay back, he obeyed the human for now. Bruce's hands lifted the hem of the shirt he was wearing for pajamas and he spread a form of warm lubricant over his swollen abdomen.

"You okay?" Clint asked, as he stood at Loki's side. "Won't be long. This...is how we...humans, check on the internal organs...mainly used for women so they know how their baby is growing."

"Interesting," Loki looked around the room and then back down to what Bruce was doing as the doctor used a pen like device over his swollen stomach.

"Look to the screen," Clint pointed out for him and Loki's eyes followed. "It's not a clear picture...but it is made visible by sound waves being bounced around inside the body. Also...we should be able to hear...your baby's heart beat."

Loki tried his best to understand the visual on the monitor screen and kept his ears open for any sound as Bruce moved the stylus lower. There it was on the monitor and he was able to make out an image of his young growing. A small little fetus, curled up on itself.

"There's something...else," Bruce frowned as he pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose and pressed down firmer with the pen device. "Move a little to your left, Loki..." He obeyed, only for the fact that he was entranced with the technology. They had more advanced technology like this back on Asgard, yet Loki paid no mind to it, he didn't need to. "There...there is a little something...that could be another baby in there."

"Twins?" Clint asked as he leaned over Loki and stared at Bruce.

"It's a high probably that's what the other signal is. It's just...the sound waves aren't hitting off of it like the other baby."

Loki was speechless again. With young, with twins. He had heard many of stories, mainly what his mother gossiped about, about women on Asgard who always seemed to die in childbirth of bringing twins into the universe. He groaned in pain frustration and covered his face with his hands. This could not happen. This was his earlier vision, the dream. The innocent twins he saw were his own flesh and blood. Loki was never one to believe in dreams of superstitions, but this, would make him believe. He had to do everything to protect his young.

Clint couldn't believe what had come out of Bruce's mouth, the words. The high probability that that other blip inside of Loki could be a twin. His heart was pounding hard and fast in his ribcage. He never thought that Loki could become pregnant with twins. Would his Jötun heritage allow it? At least Loki had put on a little extra weight and muscle to his bones for this pregnancy of his. He soon noticed Loki had covered his face with his hands, as if hiding away from the happy news that he might be carrying twins.

"Hey, Loki," he reached for and pulled on his wrists. "You're doing good." They thanked Bruce and apologized for the sudden intrusion, yet were relieved that Loki was not having a miscarriage of sorts. Bruce left them and returned to his room. Clint pulled Loki to sit back up and kissed his forehead as he ran a hand through his long raven black hair. "What's the matter?"

"I...this is not right. I shouldn't...," Loki gasped as he pulled away from Clint and swung his legs over the edge of the examination table and slipped quickly to the floor. Clint rushed around to the other side and pulled him up on his feet as he wrapped Loki's left arm around him and helped the god walk. "Twins...many females back on Asgard...died in childbirth of twins or even more young..."

"Yeh? Well, here on...Midgard...we have a better success rate. Loki, you're going to be okay. I'm going to see to that nothing, and I mean nothing, bad is going to happen to you. You will have your babies and everything will be fine. You'll see."

"All talk, Barton. You're just a human. But I had a vision."

The two of them hobbled together slowly to the elevator and rode it back up to the floor his bedroom was on.

"You mean a dream? I thought you weren't into reading that kind of stuff."

"I'm not. Well...at least I was not. This...Barton...I saw them. I saw my flesh and blood," Loki spoke almost too softly for Clint to hear and he leaned in closer as they reached the door and he opened it for Loki and helped the god back to the bed. He watched then as Loki rubbed his hands to his swollen stomach, sadly. "I saw my young and there was blood..."

"You saw them?" Clint asked, a little shocked.

"A boy and a girl," Loki shifted his jade green gaze up to him. "Innocent."

"Look, I think it would be best to speak of this later...when my brain is really functioning. Let's get back to sleep," he spoke as he covered his mouth as he yawned, though the description of Loki's vision stuck his his head for the rest of the night. Blood. Lots and lots of blood.

Clint woke the following morning with the god nestled against his side, curled up into a tight ball, trying to make himself even smaller than he was. Clint sat up and pushed the heels of his palms against his closed eyes and groaned as he turned his head to see the sunlight that trickled through the curtains over the sliding door to his balcony. He could still taste the last trick the god of mischief pulled over on him, the juice of that apple of immortality that Loki had Thor and Loona brought back just for him. The sweetness still lingered in his mouth, even months after Loki slipped it into his mouth. He didn't feel much different, maybe the apple did not work on humans? Clint slipped out of the bed with a stretch before he pulled on a pair of old jeans and a t-shirt. Clint did not wake Loki, he did not want to. He thought it best to leave sleeping gods lie.

He slipped out of the bedroom and down the halls of Avengers tower as it was still silent in the early morning hours as the sun climbed in the sky outside. He took the elevator up a couple floors and knocked on the door. There was no answer and he tried the door and found it unlocked. Inside, the room was dark and the scent of her perfume filled the space.

"Natasha," he whispered as he made his way to her bed and sat down on the edge. "Nat," he leaned in and kissed her cheeks with rough chapped lips. "Black Widow..."

She stirred under the covers of the bed and looked up at him with bright green eyes as he pulled the blankets back and pressed his right palm against her belly. She was further along than Loki, by a month, yet the god would have his babes before her.

"Don't kiss me," she warned him as she held up a finger as he was going in for a kiss. "I was sick." He sighed and drew back with a grin.

"I understand," he shook his head as he chuckled softly. "You would not guess what news I discovered last night?"

"Does it have to do with some secret SHIELD mission I'm not a part of?" she asked with one cocked eyebrow.

"Aw, come on, Nate. You know I give you all the details, even classified stuff. No, not SHIELD work. It has to do with Loki."

"Loki," she rolled her eyes at Clint.

"He's with twins. Twins!"

"I had twins once too."

The smile that was on his face dropped, quickly the the room was filled with sharp silence, it cut the tension and the excitement. He shut his mouth as he remembered when she carried the twins of the mischief god. The girl, did not survive and had to be put out of her misery, as she took a bullet to her body. Misha was the only babe to survive the field accident.

"I...I'm sorry, Natasha. I shouldn't have..."

"Don't' beat yourself up, Clint. I know you're excited. I can sense it radiating off of you."

"It seems...unfair now..."

"Shush, everything is going to work out," she reached for his hands again and brought them against her swollen belly. "Just you wait and see." She slipped from the bed and dressed herself as he watched from the edge of the bed. He had two loved ones to look after. He followed Natasha out of their room and up to Tony's flat, the living area. Clint was shocked to see Loki was already there, yet the god laid curled in fetal position on the couch, his hands pulling at his long raven hair.

Clint sighed to himself as he thought it best to check on the god. He walked over to the couch and sat down as he reached out a hand to touch Loki, he shot up quickly with wide eyes.

"Don't touch me!" he hissed in hatred as he seemed to look at Clint without any recognition in his eyes, having took a defensive stance.

"Whoa, calm down, Loki," Clint raised his hands at chest level and showed his palms to the god as he watched Loki slowly wind down until Loki relaxed against the couch again with a hand over his stomach. "You in pain? We can get you something for that, Loki. I'm sure Bruce has all sort of pain relievers down in his lab. We can head down there and get you some later."

"You suggesting shooting me up with drugs, Barton?" Loki glared in his direction.

"I was merely...yes, yes I was. Hey, I just don't like seeing you like this. None of us," he gestured a hand around the room, "like seeing you miserable and...so...defensive."

"I...I'm merely protecting my young," he slipped from the couch and moved some feet from Clint before he settled himself in Tony's recliner. Clint began to worry about the god, he never acted like this before. The amnesia still deep set in his mind that he took any gesture or touch as a threat.

"Give him space." Clint turned his head to see Natasha as she stood beside the couch with her arms crossed over her breast and she too looked at Loki. "He clearly isn't in a touchy-feely mood, Clint."

"I worry about him, Nate," he sighed as he stood up and faced her.

"Don't. He's a god. He can handle himself," she pulled him in for a kiss before she turned away and he was bombarded by Loona and Erik.

"Kids," he knelt down before them to get on their level. "Today, I don't want you bothering Loki. Do you understand me? He is...not feeling well."

"Is it the baby?" Loona asked him and Clint blushed slightly.

"Y...yes...well, there's two babies, Loona."

"Twins?"

"Yes. Loki has...twins. And he's in pain right now. So it's best to give him space today."

"We understand," Loona answered for herself and her silent younger brother.

Clint stood back up and walked over to Natasha in the small kitchen as he hear the elevator door signal before the doors opened and Tony stepped out with a grin on his face.

"Hey birdcakes, some little bird tweeted a picture of you on one of your latest missions. Talk about trying to stay invisible and under cover," Tony walked up to him with his Stark phone out and in his hands. "Really, did you get a new partner? Cause you guys look pretty chummy. Didn't know you were into brunettes, Barton," he flashed the image at Clint, who snatched the phone quickly out of his hands.

"Fuck," he cursed as he looked at the photograph that was snapped of him with his arm wrapped around her lower back, the two of them locked at the hips. He looked over at Natasha as she approached him.

"Whoa, what's wrong with him?"

Clint tore his gaze from the phone to Stark as he pointed to Loki curled up in his recliner.

"He's fine, Tony, don't touch him," he warned Stark, but he just provoked the situation by poking a stick at it.

"He better be. I'd hate if he ruined by favorite chair with..."

Loki lurched awake, covered his mouth with his hands as he all but leapt from the chair and moved quickly to the sliding glass door to the balcony outside.

"...his sick," Tony finished his sentence as the three of them watched Loki race outside. "What's baking in his oven?" he asked as he turned to Clint with one eyebrow arched.

"Twins," Clint answered, nonchalantly.

"Twins?" Tony gasped as he grinned at Natasha. "And how's our little Russian assassin?"

"I'm fine, Stark, thank you," she turned her back on him as she grabbed for a box of cereal as Clint left them to check on Loki. As of late, the god seemed to be degrading mentally as he would wake up in confusion as to where he was and who was around him.

Clint found the god as he sat in one of the patio chairs with his head between his knees and groaning lowly to himself.

"Loki?"

The god snapped up his head to look at him before he pushed a hand against his head in pain. "What? What is it? What do you want? Leave me alone," he hissed. "You...mean me harm, Midgardian? You will not lay a finger on me."

"No, I don't want to hurt you, Loki," he frowned at the god who took offense over Clint approaching him. He spied that Loki kept a hand over his belly as he spoke to him. "You're fine, Loki, you're safe. You forgetting where you are, boss?" he asked as he got a look of confusion in return. "Look," he sighed as he crouched in front of the god with his hands on his knees, "you're safe here, Loki. No one is going to hurt you."

Loki continued to glare before he stood up and walked away from Clint. He wondered if he'll ever make it past the high wall of Loki's amnesia. He watched the god as he staggered unbalanced back inside of the mansion and Clint followed behind him as he looked to Natasha and Tony. He believed it would take some time to approach Loki on the same level again. He pulled out a chair and sat down next to Natasha as she worked on her breakfast and watched as Tony approached and spoke to Loki almost calmly. It was odd to remember they were once together with a child between them, Aiden was a prodigy. His passing had hit both of them, though Tony was the most effected.

"He'll come around soon enough, he'll remember everything."

Clint turned his head to look at Natasha as she brought a spoonful of milk and cereal to her open mouth.

"I just wish sooner rather than later. I want to know what happened to him in Asgard to cause this medical anomaly," he crossed his arms over the top of the table and rested his head down as he watched Loki and Tony.

"I'd say he hit his head."

"When?"

"How should I know. Maybe...in the bifrost?"

"Ridiculous. Thor would have told us."

"Thor doesn't tell us everything, Clint."

He pushed back from the table and rocked the chair back on two legs, balancing. Did Thor cause Loki's amnesia? Would he really not mention something like that to the rest of the team? Clint began to loose little bits of his trust in the god of thunder. He watched as Loki rose to his feet and exited the room, clearly he was on his way back to Clint's room to hide under the covers of his bed.

"How is the baby?" he asked, if only to change the subject.

"Wriggling and causing my stomach to do somersaults," she replied as she finished the milk at the bottom of her bowl. "It's no walk in the park, being pregnant. You know I hate not being out there, on missions."

"I remember," Clint sighed and rested his elbows on the top of the table. "So I indulge you in all the juicy details."

"Yes, like the brunette you were with on your last assignment."

He blushed a bright shade of red. "She...was just assigned to me by Fury..."

"Sure," Natasha rolled her green eyes as she left the table to put her bowl and spoon into the dishwasher. "She did have a nice body though," she ran a finger over her bottom lip.

"Nate..."

"I'm joking," she laughed half heartedly and stood before him. She grabbed for his hands and placed them on her belly.

"You two get a room! That's...no, I don't want to see that," Tony spoke up and covered his face with his hands.

"I think we just might do just that, Stark. Thanks for the idea," Clint grinned as he stood up and took hold of Natasha's small hands in his and the two left the main flat. He followed her back to her room where the two of them laid together in her bed and spoke of lost time between the two of them and of baby names, even with not knowing the sex of the babe yet. Little did they know things were about to change.

Loki had a plan that had been simmering in his mind for some time as he watched Clint Barton with Natasha Romanoff. He felt deep set jealously towards the redheaded female and felt the deep need to keep the Midgardian male for himself, not to share him with her. What he had concocted was beyond malicious and it made him feel almost normal, like his old self. Scheming. He found what he needed as he had snuck into Dr. Banner's lab and swiped serval vials of medicines from behind locked cabinet doors.

Loki stood in the middle of the dark room with a syringe in one hand and a vial of his mixed concoction in the other. He filled the syringe past full and extra squirted out the needle tip. He looked over at the figure asleep in her bed and approached with the quietness of a stalking panther. She shifted under her blankets and Loki froze in place. He kept his eyes sharp on her movements until she had settled back down again against her pillows and the mattress.

He reached out and gently pulled the blankets from her body as she slept on her back. He pulled them down to her waist as he tugged up her night gown and revealed her swollen pregnant belly. His eyes glanced to the syringe again in his hand and back to her stomach. He slowly, carefully, inserted the needle tip into her navel and pushed ever slightly further as he released the lethal injection into her womb.

"Sweet dreams," he purred softly as she did not stir or wake and he slowly pulled out the empty syringe and pocketed it into his jacket. He pulled the covers back up her body to her chin and looked down on her peaceful face. It was hard as he tried to remember they had some form of a relationship in the past. He found himself leaning down and he stole a kiss from her lips before he slipped out of her bedroom. Soon she will wake, soon she will know. Soon she would not be a part of his Midgardian's life. Loki shut her bedroom door quietly as he continued down the hall, hand pressed against the wall to help keep his balance. He felt a grin tugged across his face and a laugh bubbled up in his throat. He stopped and hand to let it out for a minute before he continued back to Clint Barton's room. He found the young male still asleep in his 'nest' of blankets and Loki discarded the syringe and vial off the balcony to the noisy street below.

"And there goes the evidence," he spoke as he heard screeching tires, screams of shock and he watched the chaos blossom. The sounds were like music to his ears. "This feels good," he turned back inside and quietly shut the sliding glass door behind him. He turned and looked back on the human asleep, so he crouched down on the floor and pulled back the covers as he slipped underneath and up against the sleeping human. He felt as Clint reached out in his slumber to grab Loki and pulled himself closer. He felt the lull of sleep take over him and his eyes grew heavy as he slipped off into a dream, possibly a memory.

Everyone was woken the next morning with a scream in a language only one of the team understood.

"Bozhe moy! Moy malysh! Moy malysh!"

Loki felt Clint as he tore away from him and heard him race out of the bedroom as he pulled on a pair of shorts on his way out. Loki sat up and ran a hand over the top of his head and his fingers through his long hair. So, the red-headed female had woken up. He too left the 'nest' and got dressed as he followed the sound of pain and crying.

He stood in the door way of the redheaded female's room, looking in on all the other males around her bed. There was blood, lots of wet sticky blood.

"Natasha...Nate, you're okay, you're okay," Clint sat on the edge of her bed and held her tightly against his chest as he tried his hardest to soothe her as he ran a hand up and down her trembling back.

"What happened here?" Loki asked, sounding a little dumbfounded and clueless as planned.

"Natasha had a miscarriage," Bruce Banner answered as he dried his hands with a towel form the bathroom and turned his gaze to Loki. "She lost the baby. Which is odd, since she was doing so well in her first term. I'm confused."

He looked back over the female as she hid her face from them all against Clint's chest. Loki felt like smiling as his plan had been carried out and he succeeded with it. He got her to loose the baby. He got his competition out of the picture and now had Barton's attention on him with his twins.

"I am sorry for the loss of your young, female," Loki spoke to her with the voice of sympathy. "Allow Thor to take your young to Valhalla for you," he glanced in the direction of his brother and spied that Thor was as a stiff as a board, his hands clenched tight into fists. The full team of the Avengers were a tight nit family, one was hurt, the others felt it. Loki felt like happily laughing, that his plan had carried out with success and he had driven a wedge between the Avengers.

"Th...thank you, Loki," she spoke to him in a trembling voice as she pulled back from Clint's chest to look at him. Tears streamed down her red cheeks as she looked back at him.

He turned away from the team and stepped out of the bedroom, out into the hall. All this drama he has caused between the team felt so good to Loki. Soon after he heard his Midgardian behind him and he turned to face Clint.

"It is horrible loosing a young. Especially during such an early stage."

"Yes," Clint agreed as he looked down at the floor and his bare feet. "And so odd...as she was doing so well..."

"Things happen, Barton. You have to look on the bright side of life," he spoke as he reached out for the human's hands and brought them to touch his swollen belly. He closed his eyes and took pleasure of Clint's rough hands against his taunt sensitive skin.

"How...are you?" he asked in a soft small voice.

"My young shift, move and cause me pain," he spoke the truth with the human in front of him. He did not enjoy carrying two beings inside his body.

"You're...three months along now..."

"Yes," Loki lowered his head till he touched Clint's. "Two more months till my young are to be brought into this world, Midgard. Not what I had envisioned...but I can not travel through the bifrost right now."

"I know," Clint sighed. "I...we've seen what happens."

"We have?" he asked as he stepped back from the human.

"Yes," Clint shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, right, yeh, you don't remember that. Aiden...suffered at age five from you travel through the bifrost when you were pregnant with him. Not that you knew though..." He believed the words that came out of the human's mouth, though he did not remember a single thing.

Loki pulled away from Clint Barton as he continued to walk down the hall to his own room. He slipped inside and shut the door behind him as he leaned his back against the door he was able to laugh in private. He laughed and laughed until his lungs ached and his stomach churned. He staggered for his bed and sat on the edge. He had succeeded, though he had to make sure the female never learned what had really happened to her to miscarry her baby. Secret.

He walked to the closet and pulled out a cloak brought back for him from Asgard by Thor. Frigga had made it for him and it had magik woven into the deep forest green fabric. As he drew it around his frame, his swollen belly disappeared and he felt normal and his self once more. Truly, All-Mother out did herself with this creation. He continued and dressed himself in traditional formal Midgardian style and drew the cloak back around his shoulders before he left the room. He planned to slip out and find something that would distract Clint from Natasha's situation. Anything to keep the human's eyes on him.

Loki stepped out the main doors of the high skyscraper and out into the street. It was bustling with hundreds of Midgardians, all going to and fro like ants. As Loki stood with his head tilted back and he tried to look at the top of the building across the way, someone ran into him. He stumbled to the side, his hand instantly going for his stomach as he turned and glared at whatever mortal ran into him. It was a young girl no more just into her teen years with fiery red cropped hair and sharp green eyes. Loki looked curiously at the girl as she wore something odd covering her ears. She lifted her gaze to him with a frown in return as she blew a pink bubble from her mouth, which popped and was drawn back into her mouth and she worked her jaw like a cow.

"Like, excuse me," she slurred at him and she held an odd device in her hand as she smoothed her short skirt down with the other. "Sir, I was walking here."

"Rude," he hissed at her. If he had all his magik, he'd turn her into a rat or a bug to be squashed under his boot. "Don't you Midgardians ever look where you are going?"

"What?" she asked as she pulled the things over her ears off. "You are strange...and creepy," she spoke and gave him an odd look of disgust.

"Tell me where I might inquire about objects of pleasure around here?"

"Eww," she stuck her tongue out at him and slipped past him down the street and he watched her leave. So much for that approach. He looked back at Avengers tower so he would remember how to return as he begun to walk against the masses of humans that crossed the streets and walked on the sidewalks.

Everything sunk in with Loki as he walked several blocks north of the tower. The dirt and grime beneath his shoes, the dead end alleys filled with trash and smells he wished not to describe. There were shops that sold fine jewels, others that sold food for consumption. It did not feel in the least bit like Asgard to him and Loki felt the need to flee.

He stepped off a curb and should have paid mind that no other Midgardians were doing the same. A speeding automobile came at him fast, the breaks squealed in protest and there was nothing Loki could do. It struck him and he was sent several feet in the air before he made contacted back with the surface of the street. He was momentarily stunned. He heard muffled cries and sensed a crowd had formed around him as he continued to lay in the street.

"Oh my god! I didn't see him! I swear! He just stepped out and..."

"That car just..."

"He didn't see the 'no walk' sign?"

"Dude suicidal?"

"I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight..."

"Are you alright?"

"Are you okay, sir?"

"Are you bleeding?"

So many voices asked him many confusing questions at the same time as he continued to lay there before he was able to push his body up with his hands. The skin of his palms were scrapped and he bled little. There was a nasty gash to his forehead that he paid no attention to, though blood trickled down into his eyes. His clothes were torn, but the cloak remained unharmed by the accident. He stood up among gasps of shock and pushed his way through the crowd.

"You really should go the hospital..."

"Sir..."

"Your head is bleeding. That looks pretty bad."

He continued out of the crowd that had formed around him and made his way down one of the deserted alleys as he slid his back down against the cement wall down to the ground. There was a deep set aching pain deep in his gut that seemed to sending a message to him and he kept a protective arm over his stomach as he closed his eyes against the pain and slipped into the darkness of sleep and his blood pumped loudly in his ears as he felt he was loosing it.

Clint found himself sitting in the bed with Natasha as she had fallen asleep against him after her horrific and emotional ordeal, and everyone had left the room, giving them privacy. He ran his fingers through her red curls and kissed the top of her head ever so kindly. He lamented in silence the loss of his baby and what Natasha had gone through loosing it. He was startled when he heard the bedroom door creaked open and Loona entered.

"Loona...," he looked in her direction, questioningly.

"Father," she bowed slightly to him, she had her Avengers uniform on and looked ready for a mission. He told her over and over he did not want to see her dressed in the outfit or out on any missions until she was at least eighteen. He was strict on wanting to keep her childhood innocent of such horrors that go on in the world outside of the tower. "Something is wrong. I sensed something...a disturbance," she spoke as she looked past them to the sliding glass doors on the other side of the room, she walked over and opened them. She stepped out on the balcony and he slipped his legs from the bed and followed her as they looked down down the main street below. He was filled with dread suddenly as he heard the every day traffic in his ears.

"Wh...where is Loki?" he asked before he knew the words that came out of his mouth. He had not heard from the trickster for some time and knew not his whereabouts.

"He's not in the building," she answered him as she turned from the balcony and back into the room. "I'm going out to find him."

"Not alone, you're not," he frowned down on her and laid a hand on her shoulder to stop her. She turned and looked back up at him with her mismatched eyes filed with such wisdoms past her age. "I'm going with you, Loona. Just...give me a minute."

She spoke no reply to him as she slipped out of the room after she checked on Natasha. He stood there in the middle of the room with his mind was swimming. He quickly slipped out and pushed Loona back to his room, where he dressed himself in something suitable to go outside in. Not his SHIELD uniform, that would get too much attention, but something just as well suited for any situation. He pulled on his jacket and laced up his boots before he stuffed a backpack with towels and handed it to Loona. "I think we're going to need these," he sighed as the two of them slipped out of Avengers tower without alerting the others as to where they were headed.

Together they walked down the street a few city blocks before they came upon a hold up of traffic. The cars were all stopped, people honked their horns and a crowd had formed. Clint and Loona approached nonchalantly without drawing too much attention to themselves as they tried to overhear what had happened at the scene, as there was an ambulance on site.

"Did you witness it?"

"That man was crazy. He walked out into the flow of traffic. It was bound to happen."

"The blood."

"He flew several feet...and when he hit the ground..."

"Did you see? He just got up and walked off."

"Where did he go?"

"I don't know."

Clint frowned about the information that bounced out of the mouths of those standing in the crowd.

"Dad!"

He turned as he heard Loona and looked around for her before he noticed she had walked down a dark alley. He looked down at his boots and saw a trail of blood. Of course. He followed it and tried his best not to draw attention from the crowd as he approached Loona as she stood before a huddled figure that was slouched against the brick wall in the grime that was New York city. He crouched down in front of the figure and reached out with a hand to part his long black hair.

"Shit," he cursed on his breath. He did not even care if Loona heard him. "Fuck, Loki, what happened? You look like shit," he spoke to the god as he reached out to push a hand against his swollen stomach to check if any thing happened to the twins. Loki's weak hands pushed back against him, batting him away. Something was wrong.

"Fa...Loki," Loona crouched beside Clint now and removed the backpack from her back with a look of concern on his face, unzipped it and took out a towel that she handed over to Clint.

"Loki, just tell me the babies are okay," Clint held Loki's face in his hands and made the god look him in the eyes as he leaned in close. "Loki..."

"It hurts," the god answered him as he licked his tongue over his bloody lips. "I'm stiff and to move...hurts...," he whimpered. His eyes widened and Clint cursed again.

"More towels, Loona," he sighed as he turned to his daughter, "and I want you to look away. I don't want you watching what I'm about to do."

"But...are you...gunna deliver a baby?"

"Possibly."

"But, I want to see that! I wanna..."

"No, you don't!" he cut her off quick and frowned at her with the look of concern any parent would have for their child. "I want to keep you, my little girl, as sweet and and innocent as can be. Now, I need you to watch at the mouth of the alley. Can you do that? I know it's a small mission, but it's going to mean a lot, Loona."

"Yes, I understand," she hung her head as she stood up and left him to watch the crowd that had gathered out on the street and gave Clint privacy with Loki.

"Now, you know what I'm going to do, and I need you to cooperate with me as I do this. Do you understand, Loki?" he spoke and brought the god's attention back on him as he parted the green cloak of magic he wore and worked the belt of his pants. "I'm sure that crash...what ever happened...jumbled the babies in you...and I can tell you've already slipped into labor." Loki just bared his teeth at him, eyes squinted as he seethed in pain. "I can't just pick you up and carry you back to the tower...so we're going to need to do this right here. Fuck, you're early though. I don't want to loose any more of my...blood... today."

"Hawk..."

"Shh," he quieted Loki as he laid out the towels on the stone alleyway and moved Loki onto them as he parted the god's legs to see one baby had already started to crown. "I'm going to need you to push, Loki. Push."

Loki felt his body seized up on him, paralyzed by utter fear and pain that plagued his abdomen as he was forced to stare into Clint's eyes. The human was crouched between his legs and he spoke, yet Loki heard nothing that passed his lips. His ears were ringing, he could hear and feel the blood that pumped through his veins, but he heard not a word out of Clint's mouth. There was a sharp white pain that had jolted up his spine and into the back of his head. He squeezed his eyes tightly closed and hit his head against the brick wall of the building he was slumped up against as his body convulsed and he felt something slide out.

"That...that's it," Clint spoke as he pulled something free from Loki and with a knife that was stowed in his pocket, cut something and had it bundled in a towel. "We really need to get you back to the tower. There's...," he went silent as he looked back over his shoulder to Loona at the mouth of the alleyway, "no way I could possibly deliver the other one."

Loona. Loki stared at the mouth of the alley, to the girl that stood there with her back to them, as she watched closed that no other humans got too suspicious about what was going on just down the alley. Loona, his daughter, his only baby girl. His moon-goddess. His special one. It was starting to flood back to him now, his memories. Of being kidnapped and Loona was stolen from him, the birth of Aiden out in the woods while he lived for a short while in a cave, and the coma he slipped into while he carried Erik and the fall in the shower that brought on his birth. It was all coming back to him. He turned his head to the side and retched over the dirty cement ground and coughed until his lungs seized.

"Loona!" Clint called out and she turned to look back in their direction down the alley and jogged back. "We need to get Loki away from here and back to the tower. So...can I trust you to be extra careful with her?" She nodded her head up and down quickly, excitedly and with careful hands, Clint rested the bundle into her open and waiting arms. He then pulled Loki back up on shaky legs and adjusted his pants before he wrapped an arm around Loki's waist. "Work with me here, trickster," he whispered into Loki's right ear.

They slowly made it to the mouth of the alley and slipped behind the still gathered crowd as they made their way the few city blocks to Avengers tower. Once inside the elevator, Loki collapsed to the floor, his legs could no longer hold up his weight and once more he felt his abdomen seized up. He looked up at Loona as she stood beside him with a bundle in her arms.

"Loo...," he tried to speak her name, but his throat was dry and rough.

"My baby brother," Loona smiled as she kissed the wrapped newborn and crouched down to so Loki the small infant she was holding.

"Loona, pay attention," Clint growled and snapped her attention back as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Clint leaned low and then hoisted Loki back up on his feet as they staggered out into Banner's lab. "BRUCE! Bruce!" Clint called out loudly as he led Loki to an examination table. The good doctor made his way out of a nearby room and adjusted his glasses at the sight of them, pushing a finger against the arch of his glasses. "We could really use your help. I already delivered the first, but I don't know how well he is fairing. Thought it best to bring Loki back here to at least deliver the other."

Bruce turned to look at Loona and then led her to the large incubator, that was once hers, and they unwrapped the first baby and got him inside before they turned their attention back to Loki.

"Hey," Clint called Loona over and knelt before her. "I want you to go and find Tony and I want you to stay with him."

"But..."

"I don't want you to see any of this. After it's all over, I'll call you back down and...you can meet your new siblings. Just...please...do this for me."

She sighed in frustration but nodded her head and slipped out of the lab, back to the elevator and Clint turned his attention back to Loki. Loki watched his daughter as she looked at them sadly before she headed for the elevator and disappeared. He then felt Clint rested a hand over his stomach.

"Clint..."

"Not now," the Avenger frowned in frustration and watched as Bruce had prepared an epidural without Loki's knowledge and inserted it into the god's spine. Loki hissed and bared his teeth as he cursed the doctor, for he had tricked him. He did not ask for this treatment.

"I...remember."

Clint blinked a few times and stared down on him, silent for a moment before the words came to his mouth.

"You remember...what?"

"What happened to me. The amnesia spell," he broke eye contract with him. "You'd think I would be a wizard, a master, at traveling through the bifrost. I am but a fool. While on a trip back to Asgard with Thor, I...stepped out of the bifrost mid transport. Doing so is a risky, dangerous, the complications...it explains what happened to my mind."

"And what...was it that...triggered you to remember?" he asked with his brows knitted down over his eyes as he looked sternly at Loki.

"Birth," the looked down his body to his hands. "It was what grounded me. My young, my offspring..."

"And you have one more to go," Clint reached out a hand and laid it over Loki's. Together the two were silent. Hours passed and there was no progress with the other child. Loki felt the other babe might never be brought into the light of the lab, though he felt the cramping in this lower back. Clint had already fallen asleep from the stress of the matter of all that had happened in the past 24 hours. Loki would keep the tidbit of truth that he was the reason of the death of Natasha's baby, all to himself. He was good at telling lies and keeping secrets, he would not let that one slip past his lips.

There was a twinge that had him kicking one leg out as he pushed himself further up the makeshift bed with a groan. He turned his head to look over at Clint still asleep with his head against his left shoulder, slumped in his chair, with a possible kink in his neck. There were dark rings etched underneath his eyes. Loki was not going to wake him from any sleep he clearly he lacked in the last few days. Loki felt the sensation of the other infant as it slid out of his body and he moved his hands under the sheet that covered his body, down between his legs. His fingers shakily glided over the skin of the quiet infant, cool to the touch with raised scars.

"Clint...Clinton," he hissed quickly to his mate and Clint jolted awake and pushed a hand to the side of his neck as he winced in pain. Loki's fingers grasped at the small quiet infant as he pulled him from underneath the sheet and against his chest. His skin was marred with markings that Loki recognized as Jötun and the small boy was almost just as blue. Clint stared with shock and horror, eyes wide and mouth agape. Loki rubbed a hand vigorously against the infant's back and caused him to open his mouth to take a breath.

"What...we...should really call for Bruce," Clint stared at the babe for a second before he looked about the lab for a phone to call the doctor back down.

"He is fine, Clinton," Loki spoke lowly and looked over the small babe on his chest. "It's just how he is...he is Jötun, and I accept it."

"Jötun...frost giant...?"

"Yes," Loki nodded his head and then grabbed for Clint's hand. He brought it to the small babe and laid it on his head. Together the two watched as the blue skin tone slowly faded back and the small infant was left with a healthy pink tone.

"You are going to watch over them for me, Clinton, while I serve out my sentence in Asgard," Loki spoke to Clint as he transferred the two sleeping infants into his arms. "I shall be gone for a long time and they will have a better life here with you and the rest of the Avengers, to look after them and keep them safe from the outside world. Safe from me," he whispered the last part in hopes that Clint wouldn't hear him, but he did. He might have the sharpest eyes, but he also has the sharpest ears.

"Loki," Clint frowned sternly at the god who stood in front of him, dressed in fine Asgardian weaving, greens and golds that matched his pale white skin, jade eyes and stark black hair. "No. No, I can't," he shook his head side to side slowly as he looked down on the infants in his arms. They were sweet and innocent, they didn't deserve to live with him. Loona and Erik already put up with him being constantly gone, why should these little ones endure the same treatment?

As he looked over the two small infants in his arms, he transferred the little girl into Loki's arms. The god of mischief looked down on her face and then shifted his eyes up to Clint in question.

"Take her. You...are going to be lonely in Asgard by yourself. You deserve to have company more than I deserve you."

"But haw..."

"Take her."

Loki closed his mouth and did not speak further on the matter and Clint felt the god understood.

"His name is Kane."

"What?" Clint asked with an arched brow. "Cain? Like...Cain and Abel?"

"I do not know what you speak of, hawk, but his name is Kane. With a 'k'."

"And her?" Clint asked as he gestured to the small girl in Loki's arms, nestled in that magic cloak that Frigga sent, it would protect her from the harm of traveling through the bifrost.

"I will think of a name for her," Loki leaned in and kissed her forehead.

"You're leaving so soon?" came a voice and Loki turned and saw Natasha as she stepped out of the elevator and into the main living room area of Avengers tower where everyone had gathered.

"I must return to serve out my punishment," Loki spoke softly as he continued to watch Natasha as she approached him, keeping one hand on her belly, with her other hand, reached up behind his head and tugged him down for a languid kiss. He blushed slightly across his cheeks as she drew back and he shifted his gaze back to Clint. He rearranged the cloak to cover the small girl and turned toward Thor.

Both stepped outside to the where the Avengers jet lands and Thor wrapped one arm around Loki and the other he gripped and raised Mjolnir to the sky as the bifrost opened and in a flash the two Asgardians were gone from their sight. Clint turned to Natasha and handed over the small boy into her arms. "His name is Kane," he whispered to her and kissed her on the cheek.

The bifrost opened and deposited them in the Asgardian dungeon, where he would return to his cell. Frigga stood there and seemingly awaiting their return. She approached them and Loki did not flinch as she raised her hands to his cheeks and pull him into a hug against her. There were no words exchanged between them as she pulled back and her fingers then parted the cloak that was bundled in Loki's arms and revealed the small baby girl.

"Precious," was the single word that passed her lips as her eyes locked onto the small infant girl wrapped snug in the green cloak. Loki shifted her slightly and Frigga then took her into her arms to hold her close to her breast. She could be heard humming an Asgardian lullaby to the small baby.

"Please," Loki finally spoke up, "of all that I ask of you...mother...watch over her. She need not know of her...me...kept up in Asgard's prison."

"Nonsense, Loki," Frigga frowned at him with sharp blue eyes and he shut his mouth as he stared back at her. "She will grow, knowing who you are. She will make trips to see you. I...will even talk to your...father...of setting up a crib in your cell." Loki was speechless, but then bowed his head as Thor lead him back into the cell. The shields dropped once he ascended the few steps of stairs and turned around and faced them.

"Her name is Edana," he spoke, his eyes trained on the small girl bundled in his old cloak, that protected her form the harm of the bifrost. His daughter, as precious as Loona. It will be a long time till he could leave his cell, in the mean time he was glad to have his memories back, memories of his family. Blood was thicker than water.


End file.
